Understanding the types and dynamics of drivers on customer equity has been the subject of marketers’ attention for decades, however it is only recently been suggested that cultural or national contexts play a role in this understanding. Much of this research has been centered on the differences between the West and the Asia with many differences being found. Confucianism is often used to explain these differences. This comes as no surprise as Confucianism is argued to be the dominant cultural philosophy, or mode of thought, influencing East Asian individuals’ and entities’ roles in society and with each other. The philosophy has spread from its foundation in China to influence many other key societies in East Asia, such as Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. The general assumption in most of the literature is Confucianism will act similarly in every society it has spread to, but is this the case? What is not understood, therefore, is if the influence of Confucianism is equal among different East Asian societies? This exploratory study therefore seeks to contribute to knowledge by identifying if Confucianism is an influential force on customer equity drivers? And if so, are there differences between East Asian societies? Given the growing economic clout and importance of East Asia and the rising East Asian diaspora, marketer’s adherence and understanding of Confucian principles may be key to their success of managing their customer relationships, underscoring one of their key assets, their customer equity. With most cross-national research taking an umbrella view of the role of Confucianism as an explanatory variable on the behaviors of East Asian consumers, such as the Chinese and South Koreans (e.g. Bond, 1996; Hofstede, 1980), they are ignoring the behavioral and attitudinal variations that exist between East Asian Societies (e.g. Kim & Leung, 2007; Zhang et al., 2013). There is debate suggesting that Confucianism is having less effect now due to globalization, digitalization and capitalism (Leidner, 2010) potentially creating new hybrid value systems (Ralston, 2008). In China, arguments suggest Confucian influence is lessening due to the systemic philosophical changes in the nation’s society over the twentieth century, with the move from traditional Confucius philosophy to Maoism to socialist capitalism (Chiu 2002, Whitcomb et al., 1998). Other East Asian societies however may have moved away from Confucianism much quicker than China, due to their much earlier global exposure than China’s open door globalization policy in the late 1970s. In spite of this, there is wide agreement that Confucianism remains a strong influence in both China (e.g., Zhao & Roper, 2011) and other East Asian societies,such as Korea (Sung & Tinkham, 2005; Lee et al, 2009). The nexus of our paper therefore is that Confucianism does still have an influential role, but what this role is, and how this role differs between societies should be explored. In its purest form, Confucianism is composed of five constant virtues (e.g. Zhang et al., 2005): Benevolence: kind, sympathetic, compassionate, tolerant and respectful of others; Righteousness: the power to protect justice and goodness; Propriety: following societal regulations and laws; Wisdom: having good knowledge, intelligence and systems to provide excellence; and Trustworthiness: fulfillment of promises. Although the foundations of Confucianism goes back millennia, the use of the virtues to guide commercial operations stems from the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). How adherence to each of the virtues by modern marketing organizations influences their relationships with the modern customer however, has not been explored fully. We argue that each of the virtues will have a positive effect on the key customer equity drivers; value equity, brand equity and relationship equity (Lemon et al., 2001; Rust et al., 2004), and thereon customer lifetime value. Using a sample of young Chinese and Korean consumers, the Confucian five constant virtues, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, trustworthiness and wisdom are measured and their relationships explored on the three dominant drivers of customer equity; value equity, brand equity and relationship equity. The results show that the benevolence, righteousness and wisdom virtues have significant positive relationships on the three drivers. Trustworthiness and propriety virtues however have negative significant relationships. Chinese and South Korean results are then compared. The results show that the Confucianism constant virtues drive different customer equity drivers in these two societies. The five constant virtues have stronger effects for young Chinese customers than their Korean counterparts. The equity drivers of CLV also vary, with brand equity significant in the Chinese sample and value equity significant in the Korean sample. Additionally, some significant paths to the equity drivers differ between Korea and China. Benevolence has a significant negative effect on value and relationship equity drivers (opposite to China) and righteousness a significant effect on value equity (not observed in China). These results support our proposition that a national effect on the manner and influence of the Confucian drivers may vary by society.

The implication of the study is that it demonstrates the relationship of image attribute specifying each pattern from the previous studies and investigates the difference in the relationship of brand attitude, artist attitude and purchase intention among image attribute. In addition, by demonstrating the difference in the relationship among the cultural arts lifestyle groups, as well as the high and low fit between lifestyle brand and artist, the study provides an insight and a specified path for marketers as they plan out ways to utilize cultural marketing communications. Finally, by verifying the relationship among patterns, our study offers useful points of reference also for artists or art foundations who plan it with lifestyle brands using strategic approach to consumers by specified means.

With the diffusion of smart-phones and mobile equipment, as well as the emergence of consumption patterns like showrooming and reverse showrooming, not only online shopping, but also offline stores are becoming important. For this reason, a multichannel which simultaneously runs both offline and online channels is getting the spotlight. A multichannel means a series of activities related to selling goods and services to consumers via more than one channel (Levy & Weitz, 2011). To adapt to this change of the retail environment, the Dongdaemun market, the source of Korean mass fashion, is introducing a multichannel to manage online and offline channels together. ‘Style Nanda’, based on Dongdaemun, is a representative branding case. Having starting with an online shopping mall, ‘Style Nanda’ is now running offline stores and is planning to enter overseas markets. Another example is that of Roompacker which has grown up from an offline store in the Dongdaemun Doota Shopping Mall launched in 2005 and is now emerging as the online and offline powerful actor in the market. As mentioned above, Dongdaemun fashion market-based brands are competitive when they have a multichannel to simultaneously run offline channels, online, and mobile channels. The existing Dongdaemun fashion market-related research has been limited to the analysis of Dongdaemun market’s structural characteristics or the consumer perception of the shopping conditions (Hong & Lee, 2007; Choi & Choo, 2005). Also, most multi-channel studies have focused on the consumer perceptions depending on the channel characteristics; therefore, the studies that measured consumer responses depending on the brand characteristics are very scarce. With the change in the retail environment and the increase in the necessity of revitalizing Dongdaemun commercial districts, a study on the multi-channel properties of the Dongdaemun brands would provide many useful implications. In this context, this research aims to analyze the characteristics of the Dongdaemun market, which is offline-optimized, as well as the utilities and attributes of multichannel shopping services of Dongdaemun fashion brands. Our second aim is to provide implications for marketing. In particular, this research is focused on the effects of these attributes on value equity, relationship equity, and brand equity which are customer equity drivers of Dongdaemun fashion brand consumers. Furthermore, this research explores the effects of customer equity drivers on customer satisfaction and purchase intention. A total of 200 samples were collected to examine the effects on customer equity drivers of Dongdaemun multichannel attributions by consumers in Dongdaemun Fashion Market. The collected data were then analyzed statistically (exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and descriptive statistics) with SPSS 21.0. Furthermore, AMOS 18.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis and multiple group analysis. The results of this research will serve as a foundation for a distribution channel research to measure the characteristics of Dongdaemun and customer equity regarding a multichannel. They will also be practically helpful in establishing a strategy to introduce a multichannel of offline-centered brands.

This study aims to examine the effects of services marketing mix elements on customer equity through the customer experience in order to determine an optimal marketing mix strategy in the service industry. This paper utilizes confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze and confirm the proposed conceptual model. This study finds that the process, people, and physical evidence of the “7Ps” of the service marketing mix impart a positive and significant effect on the customer experience in the post-office setting. This result would help practitioners to create a service marketing strategy to differentiate their service from competitors in order to retain existing customers and attract new ones. It was also found that the customer experience is positively linked to customer equity. From the customer equity perspective, this study provides theoretical support that the customer experience, as one of the service operations management measurements, can be employed to measure service performance, which is also closely related to customer equity.

There are amount of researches study about corporate competition sustainability, find the way to survive in the competition. But sustainable development has been launched for many years. Sustainable marketing aims to balance among economic, environmental, and social goals. Marketing methods of one company should be innovated with fast development. Marketing practitioners and researchers should follow the idea to sustainable marketing base on the hot issue of sustainable issue. Because sustainable marketing can increase firms’ profit and improve the environment such as nature environment and society. Customer equity is the sum of customer lifetime value, comes from value creation based on profits, costs, cash flow, customers, and customer relationships. Customer equity has been defined as value of future profits that might be acquired from customers, excluding corporate costs (Berger & Nasr, 1998), as profits created when companies allocate resources appropriately to acquire and retain customers (Blattberg & Deighton, 1996), and as the sum of all customers’ discounted lifetime value (Lemon et al., 2001). In this research studied the relationship between sustainable marketing and customer equity. Customer equity has been the key for companies’ sustainable competitive advantage. The company can make proper marketing strategy with customer equity which can both satisfy consumers and make a profit for the company (Lemon et al., 2001). Also test customer attitude to sustainable marketing in different culture. Based on the results this study gave both academy and practice implications.

Customer equity can estimate customer lifetime value for the company (Rust et al, 2004). The firm can make proper marketing strategy with customer equity. Customer equity can both satisfy consumers and make a profit for the company (Lemon et al., 2001).So we built a model to connect service quality and customer equity to study how to prove the competitive power of traditional market. In this paper we used customer satisfaction and brand attitude as mediating variables since Store brands have become an important contributor to retail differentiation and basis for building store loyalty (Dodd and Lindley, 2003) and in retail market customer equity varies with customer satisfaction( Pappu and Quester 2006). Considering that Chinese economic growth rate was slowing down, traditional market is being a priority for Chinese Government to relieve severe export pressure and employment pressure. In this research we would like to study the relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction and brand attitude and how they influence customer equity in traditional markets. Through this study we also find out how to competitive power of traditional market through managing CLV and proving service quality

Dongdaemun Fashion Town, a representative clothing wholesale and retail market in South Korea, is a traditional market that was formed in the 19th century in the late Chosun Dynasty. Since then, the market system has strengthened and, as of now, Dongdaemun Fashion Town can produce various products in batch production and is characterized by a quick market response (Jung, Choo, & Chung, 2007). Furthermore, all fashion-related functions are available, making Dongdaemun Fashion Town an industrial cluster where all related businesses and services are locally concentrated (Ko, Choo, Lee, Song, & Whang, 2013). These characteristics of Dongdaemun Fashion Town relieve market trade cost and build a unique production system. It is positioned as a central clothing wholesale and retail district with the function of a national wholesale market. This Dongdaemun Fashion Town system creates services that customers demand through cooperation, partnership, or outsourcing between various suppliers and various resources (Nam, Kim, Yim, Lee, & Jo, 2009). Thus, Dongdaemun Fashion Town is a system space composed of subordinate markets with unique taste functions; here, a systematic network between the suppliers is significant. It produces value co-creation through collaboration with suppliers. However, few previous studies have investigated co-value created through co-production or co-innovation from Dongdaemun Fashion Town. Also, the shift from product-centered thinking to the customer-centered thinking implies the need for an accompanying shift to the customer-based strategy. It also refers the necessity of strategy to improve customer equity (Rust, Lemon, & Zeithaml, 2004). Therefore, further study is needed on co-creation research to make cyclical growth of traditional market and customer equity. The structure of this study is as follows. First, the characteristics of the Dongdaemun Fashion Town’s co-production, co-innovation, and value co-creation are investigated and each of the subordinate aspects is investigated. Second, the influence of co-production, co-innovation, and value co-creation on customer equity driver is analyzed. Third, the moderating effects on the types of suppliers’ (wholesale/retail) influence relationship are analyzed. In total, 300 samples by wholesalers and retailers were collected for the final analysis. Data analysis was performed used SPSS 21.0 for exploratory factor analyses, reliability analysis, and descriptive statistics. Based on the results, AMOS 18.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis and multiple group analysis. The results of this study provide an insight into the influence of Dongdaemun Fashion Town’s co-production, co-innovation, and value co-creation on customer equity by wholesalers and retailers. The study concludes with outlining future directions of research that can be used in the development of marketing strategies.

Prior to the initiation of new marketing activities, the majority of companies make great efforts to figure out a means of collecting all-round information on overseas target markets and global consumers for the purpose of strengthening competitiveness and then further increasing market share and enterprise benefits. The concept of customer equity has been introduced as a tool to continuously secure customers and create profits in the future. Globalization trends have attached great importance to altering the structure of the fashion industry. In particular, with expectation of conducting innovative marketing, companies engaged in SPA brands are gradually developed into global companies. Furthermore, corporate profitability is very sensitive to consumers’ attitudinal changes due to the short trend cycle of SPA brands. Most of our behaviors are predicated on the attitudes and behaviors of the others. The influence of loyal customers may turn potential customers into loyal customer owing to high customer equity. That is to say, companies may obtain more profits through higher customer equity. The study aims to explore the relationships among social influence, social learning and customer equity. The results of the study can be summarized as follows. First, the study elaborates on the relationships among social influence, social learning and customer equity. Second, by comparing the economic and cultural differences between South Korea and China, the study finds the social influence has a positive influence on customer equity in different ways between the two countries.

This paper combines insights from researches in brand experience, brand trust and customer equity and social network service (SNS). In light of a growing interest in the use of social network service (SNS) marketing among smart phone brands, this study sets out to identify attributes of brand product and examines the relationships among those SNS attributes, brand experience in SNS, brand attachment, brand trust, value equity, relationship equity and brand equity through a structural equation model. SNS attributes are conceptualized as utilitarian (perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness) and hedonic (entertainment, aesthetics). Four constructs of electronics brands experience in SNS are sensory, intellectual, behavioral, relational experience. The study aims to have a positive investigation on what influence is given to customer equity by the brand trust and the brand attachment formed through brand experience in SNS environment.

In the U.S., the Super Bowl attracts more viewers and media attention for its advertising than any other single event for the year (Tomkovick et al., 2011). Previous research focuses on factors of the effectiveness of Super Bowl ads. A majority of these studies explores their impact on short-term effectiveness measures such as recall, buzz, or, most commonly, ad likeability (e.g., Cheong and Kim, 2012; Li, 2010; Nail, 2007; Newell et al., 2001; Tomkovick et al., 2001). However, prior research on whether Super Bowl ads have a positive impact on stock prices has not provided consistent results. Thus, more attention should be paid to the marketing productivity and measures of return, including customer equity (e.g., Rust et al., 2004). Drawing on the brand value chain (Keller and Lehmann, 2003), we hypothesize that customer equity mediates the relationship between Super Bowl ads and firm value. Using event study methodology, we analyze a sample of 62 ads for which data is available on both measures that represent customer equity and stock price from the Super Bowls from 2008 to 2012. We find that Super Bowl ads can be worth the large investment, but only if they enhance consumers' brand favorability ratings. The reverse also holds in that a negative impact on stock return is expected when a Super Bowl ad reduces brand favorability.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine retail brand equity driver and equity components, and discuss the differentiation of retail branding strategy of three types of supermarket (national chain, local chain and specialty chain) especially in Japan. Design/methodology/approach –The empirical study is based on a sample of 3,062 customers usually using supermarket chain stores (total 58 chain stores) via Internet research household panel to develop this model, and using multiple-group structural equation modeling. Findings – First, store equity driver influence the retail brand equity than policy of corporate driver, and the most affect factor of store equity driver is a service and support. Second, Retail brand equity components were distinctiveness, emotional loyalty, experience value, and trustworthiness. Emotional loyalty and experience value influences the behavioral loyalty. Third, three types of supermarket have different equity drivers, and they influence the purchase behavior. Specialty chain has a strong store driver, which increases of price per unit. National chain and local chain has a strong covariance policy of corporate driver and store equity driver, which influences the retail brand equity. Originality/value – Understanding the retail brand equity in Japanese supermarkets. Retail brand equity is made from a holistic aggregation of some components, and equity driver is made from store attributes and corporate attributes, which are attribution level of operational activities. Consumer recognizes the store as a holistic brand but company wants to know how to increase the behavioral loyalty (purchase behavior), this retail brand equity model integrates the retail brand as holistic and attribution level approach follows retail-marketing activities.

Social media, Web 2.0 based social activity and powerful marketing tool, brought about a new paradigm for the 21st century culture and society. In line with the trend, the fashion industry is vigorously undertaking marketing activities on social media, seeking to build and maintain relationships with their customers through the Internet and mobile devices. The one-way provision of information by firms to customers has evolved to a symmetrical form of customers, whereby the customers also supply information to the firms share information with other customers. Through social media services, customers not only share their thoughts and experiences but also exchange tangible products and publicize the products, thereby directly participating in production and marketing activities of brands. Such participation of consumers offers inspirations for differentiated service on the part of the brands, for which proactive and long-term participatory activities of customers are required. Customer participation is of primary importance in current service marketing industry. Until now, related literature on customer participation has mostly centered on offline service situations. However, the advent of social media has simplified the process of participation for customers, and invoking voluntary customer participation has become the greatest challenge facing service industries, and, at the same time, the path to success. Those of us who live in the age of information technology are offered the opportunity to engage in two-way communication with other customers, the brand, and the media. Thus, customer participation is just as, if not, more important in an online environment. More and more customers are becoming directly involved in brand activities, which affect the brands as well as the customers themselves. Nonetheless, extant customer participation research focuses on developing constructs that are largely based on offline situations. Although such constructs correspond in part to the online setting, they fall short of meeting the unique characteristics of customer participation in social media. Therefore, in order to establish constructs for customer participation in social media, revision and supplementation of the offline-based constructs were found to be necessary. Based on interaction theory, this study explored the notion of customer participation in fashion brands’ social networking site (SNS) service by categorizing it into three types: customer-customer, customer-brand, and customer-media participation. In addition, it examined the external factors that influence customer social participation and how active social participation of customers in SNS affects trust and customer equity. The association between measurement variables according to the brand type was also closely examined. This study underwent two pre-tests to revise and supplement the survey items on customer social participation. A preliminary investigation was conducted on 516 respondents, and a total of 582 respondents participated in the main investigation. The respondents who were invited to participate lived in Korea, were in their 20s or 30s, and had previous experience in using fashion brands’ SNS service, SPSS 18.0 was used to conduct frequency analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and t-test. Based on the results, AMOS 18.0 was used to undergo confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results of the study are summarized as follows. Based on the brand type (SPA and luxury) and the rate of sales, Uniqlo, a global SPA brand that boasts the largest number of SNS fans, and Louis Vuitton, a global luxury brand, were chosen for the study. The respondents consisted of consumers in their 20s and the 30s who, within the last six months, had previous experience in using the SNS service of the brands. The sample consisted of 40.7% male and 59.6% female, and 72.5% were in their 20s and 27.5% in 30s. A large percentage of the respondents were students (64.9%). The large proportion of university students reflects the trend of most active users of SNS being university students. Second, SNS service shopping context found positive association with customer-customer participation and customer-brand participation, but customer-media participation was insignificant. The results show that as the SNS is characterized by its linkage to different websites and platforms, customers are exposed to constant opportunities for participation. On the other hand, customer-media participation was found to be insignificant, which can be interpreted as indiscriminate constant supply of information that seeks to spur impulsive buying leading to antagonism of the customers. Such negative situations can be avoided by departing from indiscriminate provision of information to offering information that is customized to the needs and demands of each customer and invoking the customer to participate in information delivery. Third, SNS participation motivation and customer social participation were all positively associated. In particular, customer-media participation demonstrated the strongest influence, followed by customer-customer and customer-brand participation. As such, active participation of the customer with the brand is the most effective way to create collaborative, synergy effect or co-creation. Fourth, all routes from SNS user orientation to customer social participation were significant. SNS users in general possessed high levels of self-efficacy and tended to feel elevated as well as find altruistic pleasure in providing information that would help others. Such users participate through numerous ways such as customer-brand and customer-media participation but were the most active in customer-customer participation. Fifth, it was found that customer-customer and customer-brand participation builds trust of the customers toward the SNS service and the information or the information provider. However, customer-media participation did not indicate the same results. In order to build trust through participation, brands need to provide an inviting environment for customers to post comments and share information. Furthermore, marketing strategies, such as offering events and coupons to stimulate E-WOM activities of customers as well as creating a space for open communication are vital to building trust. Sixth, customer-media participation was positively associated with customer equity. Unlike customer-customer and customer-brand participation which requires constant physical effort of the customer, customer-media participation demands considerably less time and effort apart from the initial stages during which customization process is undergone to receive tailored information with just one click. Therefore, establishing convenient and practical system that targets the Y-generation in their 20s and 30s is emphasized in order to maintain a long-term relationship. Seventh, trust is positively associated with customer equity. Building trust is based on interactivity among people. This study found that customer-customer participation and customer-brand participation influence customer equity through trust, while customer-media participation leads to customer equity without being mediated by trust. Therefore, all three types of participation are equally important to customer equity. Eighth, brand type was a meaningful moderator to the relationship between SNS service shopping context, SNS service user orientation, participation motivation, customer social participation, trust, and customer equity. To summarize, the type of participation to encourage is based on the brand type, and as customers may have different expectations according to the brand, it is important to understand their orientations and provide customized information or an open space for communication. In addition, participation behavior has a strong potential to influence customer equity, but depending on the type of participation, trust may not necessarily positively influence customer equity. Therefore, it is recommended that brands offer credible and sincere information that customers can trust and follow. The significance of this study is that it is one of the first studies to examine customer participation in a social media environment. At a point in time where customers’ value creation is attracting increased attention, this study empirically revealed that customer-media relationship, which enables customer-customer and customer-brand participation on SNS, is also within the bounds of participation. Furthermore, this study identified the importance of relational marketing approach to brand and customer through customer social participation. By applying the concept of customer equity, which is in its fledgling stage in the area of consumer fashion marketing, it offers a basis for future research on long-term relationship building with firms The limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed below. The sample of the study consisted of Koreans between the ages of 20 to 30. The limitation in the sample is inadequate to generalize the findings, and therefore, a comparative study with broader sample across culture and age is necessary. Moreover, this study observed customer participation on SNS environment. However, as there was a lack of preceding literature in this area, the measurement scales were revised and supplemented to fit the purpose of this study. The measurement instrument, therefore, needs to be further applied with different antecedents and consequences in subsequent research. Finally, due to the lack of previous literature on customer participation in SNS environment, the theoretical basis of the relationship between the variables lacked solidity. This study adapted a part of a theoretical framework to fit the context of the study to come up with the hypothesized relationship between the variables. Therefore, it is suggested that future research works toward developing and strengthening the theoretical framework of customer social participation.

With increasing competition in the global marketplace and the shift marketing activities from product-centered to consumer-centered, companies make efforts to collect information on overseas markets and global consumers prior to the initiation of new marketing activities. The concept of customer equity has been introduced as a tool to continously secure customers and create profits in the future. These trends also play an important role in the fashion industry since many fashion brands are growing into global companies, but need to adapt their innovative marketing strategies to different market environments, such as cultural settings. For this reason, more understanding of the individual consumers and the responses to marketing strategies is required. Furthermore, the trend cycle of SPA brands tends to be very short, so corporate profitability is highly sensitive to consumers’ attitudinal changes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of cultural value in the global customer equity model focusing on SPA brands. For that, fashion SPA brands which are active globally will be selected and surveys will be distributed in several countries in order to compare and analyze the impact of cultural value on customer equity. The expected results of this study will contribute to the global market segmentation in terms of improved marketing efforts. Marketers will be able to understand which one of the three customer equity drivers – relationship, value, brand – is most important to the cultural setting. Furthermore, the findings will indicate which cultural value is most dominant in the respective country to direct marketing approaches towards these values. Through this improved knowledge over customers, companies can lower their marketing investments, analyze the individual profitability of customers to their company and communicate in more efficient ways to the customers. By gaining more knowledge about the consumer behavior in the respective country, SPA brands will be able to better understand product preferences and purchase patterns and therefore plan product style and life cycles in more efficient ways, which is crucial in such a fast continously changing marketplace. In this way, this study extends the research scope towards a cultural perspective on customer equity.

Researcher in the western world have studied corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainable development, and marketing procedures for combining CSR and sustainability, but Asian awareness has been limited on both corporate and state levels. Asian researchers need to improve sustainable marketing theory because China, especially, urgently needs to confront the problem in sustainability management. The authors argue that Confucian principles, which are built on five constant virtues that have guided family and commercial life in China for more than 2,500 years, are relevant to theory regarding CSR and sustainability. To analyze sustainability in China in relation to Confucian principles, the authors develop and refine a questionnaire to be used in China, and use SPSS to analyze reliability and EFA. They use CFA and SEM to analyze sustainable marketing performance and customer equity and derive conclusions and implications.

This study examines the effect of SPA store experience on formation of customer equity. Here we distingush dimension of store experience to sensory, affective, behavioral, intellectual, and relational experience and dimension of customer equity to value, brand, relationship equity. To verify relationship between dimension of store experience and customer equity, as well as loyalty, we use structural equation modeling. As a result, relationship between variables have a significant effect on each other exclude hypotheses such as relationship between affective experience and value equity and relationship between behavioural experience and relationship equity. The result indicates that reinforcing SPA store experience likely to have positive impact on formation of customer equity and loyalty strength.

The purpose of this research is to analysis and to verify the influence between attitude toward navy brand and customer equity. To do that, we regard the navy serving in R.O.K. Navy as the customers. All Korean men over 18 years older are drafted into the army by the constitution of Republic of Korea. This means that Korean military forces are recruited by the power of the State. However, the military officers, petty officers and Navy(including the Marine corps)•Air forces volunteer for military service. Korean government uses two military entrance processes which are both forcible and volunteering. With the slogan “The Ocean Navy”, the R.O.K. Navy is trying to build powerful naval forces. It is essential to acquire the elite military forces that help the Korean Navy accomplish the goal and heighten the competitiveness. The enlisted military forces are expected to show their own ability inside the R.O.K. Navy. After they are discharged, they will have positive influences to the local communities as the supporters of the R.O.K. Navy. The R.O.K. Navy has made lots of efforts for its navies who are soon discharged to have pride and affection as post-Korean navies through many programs such as educations and events. Discharged navies are expected to play important roles to response national policies actively, to lead the development of local communities, and to stand in advance guard for navy PR activities. Although many researches confirmed and verified the customer equity, there was no research on the customer equity of nonprofit organizations, especially the military forces. This research defined the customer equity from the attitudes toward Korean navy brand perspective in detail. This study also identified the influential factors on brand attitude and some relationships among the variables of the customer equity. This research contributes to the development of effective marketing strategies for Korean Navy brand and customer equity that Korean navy policy officers build.

Introduction Driven by the rapidly evolving media landscape, firms extensively use social media to engage with their customers (Avery et al., 2010). Today, social media is an integral part of an individual’s daily life, which makes a vital venue through which companies connect with customers (Men & Tsai, 2011; Utz, 2009). Given the increased use of social media, recent studies have investigated how social media cultivates customer relationships with celebrities and/or media personalities (e.g., Smith, 2010). In light of the effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool, it is noteworthy to analyze the source power of celebrities and social relationships and consider how to take advantage of the power. The parasocial relationship is founded upon the communication process, which is an important factor in understanding the relationship between media and users. Parasocial relationships differ according to the motives for using social network service (SNS), while connection and attachment to celebrities, such as having empathy for a particular celebrity, is affected by celebrity source credibility. (Ohanian, 1990). The purpose of this study is to clarify the relation between parasocial relationships and customer equity in the social media context. The study investigates effects of motivations to use SNS and source credibility on parasocial relationships, as well as the effects of parasocial relationships on attitude and customer equity, and customer lifetime value. Theoretical Frameworks In this study, parasocial relationship refers to a virtual intimacy between a media personality and the media users, in other words, it is a psychological, interpersonal relationship unilaterally formed by users based on proximity, similarity, and attraction to the media personalities (Rubin & Step, 2000). When a parasocial relationship is formed, the media consumer appreciates the values and motives of the media character, often viewing him or her as a counselor, comforter, and model (Horton & Wohl, 1956). When using an SNS, users’ communication habits and their selection of social network services vary according to their motives, which in turn affect the parasocial relationships with celebrities via SNS. Motives for using SNS, specifically, information seeking, entertainment, and social connection may have a positive relationship with parasocial relationships. Source credibility, the positive characteristics of a communicator that affect the receiver’s acceptance of a message, positively influences parasocial relationships (Ohanian, 1990; McCracken, 1989) based on expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness of the media celebrities. In the social media context, a parasocial relationship has positive influence on attitude toward using an SNS. Social media users engage in finding people with whom they have an offline connection (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). Social media enables individuals to connect with others all around the world easily, it is not surprising that parasocial relationships influence users’ attitude toward using social media, offering environments to enhance connections (Byod & Ellison, 2008). Further, it is worthwhile to note that parasocial relationships may have a positive influence on customer equity. The key to customer equity lies in understanding the customer lifetime value concept, which refers to the net present value of a customer’s profit stream (Rust, Lemon, & Zeithaml, 2004). Parasocial relationships positively influence brand, value and relationship equity, with the emergence of brands as one of the key organizational assets (Gummesson, 2004). Parasocial relationships explain relationships between individuals and brands, product, symbols, objects, and corporate identities. Such relationships allow individuals to have bonds with brands, trademarks and other symbols, politicians, sportsmen or even actors (Gummesson, 2004). Thus, they positively influence customer equity including brand equity, value equity, and relationship equity. Focused on effects of motivations to use SNS and source credibility on parasocial relationship as well as the effects of parasocial relationship on attitude, customer equity, and customer lifetime value, this study tests the following hypotheses: H1: Motivations to use SNS will have a positive influence on parasocial relationship. H2: Source credibility will have a positive influence on parasocial relationship. H3: Parasocial relationship will have a positive influence on attitude toward using SNS. H4: Attitude toward using SNS will have a positive influence on customer equity. H5: Parasocial relationship will have a positive influence on customer equity. Methods This study used a survey to investigate key questions about the associations between parasocial relationships and customer equity. A total of 350 social media users recruited from Hong Kong and Macau in China participated in the survey. Of the 350 participants, 129 were men (36.9%) and 221 were women (63.1%), with ages ranging from 21 and 35 years old (mean = 25.6 years). This study measured motivations for using SNS on a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree), which was adapted from an existing motivation scale (Leung, 2009; Leung & Wei, 1998; Sheldon 2008). To measure source credibility, this study used a five-point Likert scale, which was also adapted from an existing source credibility scale (Eisend & Langner, 2010; Priester & Petty 2003). Parasocial relationships were measured on the basis of user responses to 17 items on an existing five-point scale that assessed parasocial relationships (Koeppel et al., 1993). This study measured attitude toward using SNS through an existing scale (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003). Customer equity was measured using an existing five-point scale (Keller, 2003; Rust et al., 2004) that elicited user responses to 13 items. Customer lifetime value (CLV) was calculated only for the customers in the sample, and CLVs were calculated separately before the average was taken by using the equation below: The CLVij of customer i to brand j, is given as: Tij= Frequency of purchases by customer i for a specific period of time dj= The rate of discount offered by company j fi= Annual average frequency of purchases by customer i for a certain period of time Vijt= The amount of purchase of brand j by customer i for a period of time t πijt= Expected profits by purchase unit of brand j by customer i for a period of time t Bijt= Probability that customer i buys brand j in purchase t Results The overall goodness-of-fit for this measurement model was acceptable (Chi-square = 8.218, df = 5, p = 0.145, GFI = 0.992, CFI = 0.991, RMR = 0.095, RMSEA = 0.043). The reliability coefficients of all 20 motivation measures were 0.885, and they were based on three factors of information seeking, entertainment, and building relationships. The reliability coefficients of all 16 source credibility measures were 0.924 with three factors of attractiveness, expertise, and trustworthiness. The reliability coefficients of all 17 parasocial relationship measures were 0.866 with three factors: proximity, similarity, and attachments. The reliability coefficients of all 13 customer equity measures were 0.838 with three factors of value equity, brand equity, and relationship equity. Cronbach’s alpha for attitude was 0.792. The coefficients indicate the acceptable reliability of the measures. Motivations to use SNS showed statistically positive effects on parasocial relationship (β = 0.151, p < 0.001). Specifically, entertainment (β = 0.148, p < 0.01) and building relationships (β = 0.093, p < 0.05) motivations showed significant positive effects on parasocial relationships while information seeking motivation did not show significant effects on parasocial relationships (β = 0.074). Source credibility showed statistically positive effects on parasocial relationship (β = 0.316, p < 0.001). Thus, the results supported H1 and H2. Parasocial relationships showed statistically positive effects on attitude (β = 0.295, p < 0.001) and customer equity (β = 0.272, p < 0.001). Attitude showed statistically positive effects on customer equity (β = 0.172, p < 0.001). Thus, the results supported H3 and H4. Customer equity showed statistically positive effects on customer lifetime value (β = 3.452, p < 0.001). Thus, the results supported H5 (see Table 1, Figure 1). Discussion This study contributes to clarifying parasocial relationships in the social media context and determining the relationships between parasocial relationship and customer equity. This study contributes to the theoretical foundation and implications of parasocial relationships and customer equity. Specifically, motivations to use SNS and source credibility positively influence parasocial relationship. Parasocial relationships have positive effects on attitude and customer equity. Customer equity, in turn, has positive effects on customer lifetime value. The study is the first of its kind on the effects of parasocial relationships on customer equity in the social media context. The study finds that motivations and source credibility are important antecedents of consumers’ parasocial relationships formed via social media. Parasocial relationships have a positive effect on attitude and customer equity, and customer equity leads to increased customer lifetime value. This study suggests that parasocial relationship is one of the strong influential variables on customer equity as it improves customer lifetime value. Thus, marketers should definitely consider parasocial relationship management in the social media context while tailoring their brand communications to their most profitable customers and enhance their customer lifetime value.

This study examines the effect of SPA store experience on formation of customer equity. Here we distingush dimension of store experience to sensory, affective, behavioral, intellectual, and relational experience and dimension of customer equity to value, brand, relationship equity. To verify relationship between dimension of store experience and customer equity, as well as loyalty, we use structural equation modeling. As a result, relationship between variables have a significant effect on each other exclude hypotheses such as relationship between affective experience and value equity and relationship between behavioural experience and relationship equity. The result indicates that reinforcing SPA store experience likely to have positive impact on formation of customer equity and loyalty strength.

Although several causal studies investigate the relationships between customer equity (CE) and firm performance, there has been some debate about whether their positive relationship is valid over long time horizons and across firm/industry environments. In this paper, we investigate the dynamic effect of CE on firm performance. Using individual-level purchase data for an online retailer, we find a weak relationship between CE and firm profitability, which is not consistent with previous assumptions and beliefs. Additional analysis to resolve this gap shows that in the early stage when a firm’s growth rate is relatively high the firm is required to manage many newly enrolled customers. This means that newly acquired customer equity (NCE) has a larger effect than retained customer equity (RCE) on firm profitability in the early stage. In contrast, in the mature stage when a firm’s growth rate is stable and low the firm should retain its customers. This means that RCE has a larger effect than NCE on firm profitability in the mature stage. Thus, marketing managers need to leverage the drivers of acquisition and retention to continue to grow overall CE and firm performance.