The limited available empirical evidence indicates that consumer ethnocentrism does not have a uniform effect on consumer buying (e.g., Klein, Ettenson & Morris 1998; Suh & Kwon 2002). The paper comes to address this gap by investigating the inconsistency of ethnocentric behaviours and the factors underlying such inconsistencies. More specifically, brand, product category and country of origin (COO) effects are examined for their impact on behavioural consumer ethnocentric bias. Contrary to the main stream of research in this area, which concentrates on general attitudes towards the products or buying intentions (e.g., Balabanis & Diamantopoulos 2004; Poon et al. 2010; Sharma etal. 1995; Shimp & Sharma 1987; Verlegh 2007; Wang & Chen 2004) this paper focuses on behavioural outcomes of consumer ethnocentrism. In addition, it adopts a more focused approach and examines the impact of consumer ethnocentrism on the purchase of specific brands, rather than the impact of consumer ethnocentrism on general product categorisations or simple foreigndomestic product dichotomies. Hypotheses are developed to explain observed differences in the behavioural effects of consumer ethnocentrism. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of 468 US consumers involving purchases in 10 product categories, 432 brands and 22 countries of origin. Results confirm that product category is an important determinant of the behavioural effects of consumer ethnocentrism. Consumer ethnocentrism was found to have an impact on the purchases of the most expensive product categories rather than the frequently purchase convenient items. There is also some limited evidence regarding the moderating role of globalness of brands on the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and purchase behaviour. The cultural proximity of the country of origin of foreign brands was found to have no effect on the purchasing behaviour of ethnocentric consumers.

Many authors and practitioners have suggested that scarcity increases a product’s perceived value, because scarcity affects availability of a product and people assume that what is less common is more valuable (Cialdini, 1987). Communicating such restrictions on product availability is a common advertising tactic intended to motivate consumer purchasing behavior by arousing product scarcity perceptions. To further our knowledge on scarcity effects researchers indicate the need to examine contextual or individual factors which are related to demand-caused scarcity and/or supply-caused scarcity. Corresponding to the call for further research this study empirically examines seller credibility, product type, and consumer orientation as moderators on the relationship between scarcity and purchase intention. Extant research have found that both excess demand and limited supply lead to increased product choice, but engender distinct inference processes (Hsuan, Chien & Tzu, 2012). Scarcity can be based on changes in demand or supply. Demand scarcity arises when supply cannot meet market demand. Advertisers may emphasize this limited availability in positive terms by claiming “only while stocks last”. Demand scarcity messages, either “in popular demand” or “over sold” indicates consumers that a product’s popularity is creating demand that exceeds the product’s available supply (Herpen, Pieters, & Zeelenberg 2009; Verhallen, 1982). Supply scarcity suggests that the product is exclusive, and affects consumer preferences through perceptions of the symbolic benefits the product can provide, including uniqueness (Snyder, 1992) and social status (Lynn, 1992). Advertisements convey supply scarcity when marketers produce quantities of a new product less than enough to meet initial demand and distribute a competitive number of units to individual retail store. Researchers have indicated the need to examine contextual or individual influences on the distinct type of scarcity to gain further insight into these two scarcity effects. This research examines the moderating effect of seller credibility, product type, and consumer orientation on the relationship between scarcity and purchase intention. The first research objective is to examine if scarcity effect is stronger when a seller is more credible than not. The second research objective is to examine if demand scarcity produces a stronger purchase intention for utilitarian products as opposed to symbolic products. In contrast, supply scarcity will be valued more highly for symbolic products, because the product’s limited availability can deliver consumers symbolic benefits such as uniqueness (Snyder, 1992) and social status (Lynn, 1992). The third research objective is to examine if demand scarcity produces a stronger purchase intention for consumers with prevention-focus than those with promotion-focus. Similarly, the research also examines if supply scarcity produces a stronger purchase intention for consumers with promotion-focus than those with prevention-focus. This research employs a laboratory experiment to empirically test the research hypotheses. The experiment manipulates scarcity, seller credibility, and product type and it measures consumer orientation as either promotion-focus or prevention-focus. Thus it employs a 3 (scarcity: demand scarcity, supply scarcity, no scarcity) x 2 (high credibility, low credibility) x 2 (utilitarian product, symbolic product) between-subjects design. Results of hypothesis tests and implications will be discussed.

본 연구는 산림기반형 한방치유 관광상품에 대한 수요자 욕구와 선호를 파악하여 향후 보다 표적화되고 차별화된 산림치유 관련 정책 수립과 한방치유 관련 프로그램의 개발을 위한 기초자료 제공을 목적으로 실시되었다. 서울에 거주하는 30대 이상 성인남녀 400명을 조사대상으로 성과 연령별, 거주지역별로 비례할당 표본추출법을 사용, 인터넷조사(CAWI)를 실시하여 총 317부가 최종 분석에 이용되었다. 산림기반형 한방치유 관광상품에 대한 이미지는 '산림욕, 숲속 걷기, 나무'가 다수(61.5%)를 차지했고, 선호 의견과 이용 의향은 각각 72.9%와 67.5%로 긍정적인 경향이 높았다. 단지 조성에 적합한 지역으로는 수도권이 53.6%, 강원도가 38.8%로 나타났다. 이용목적은 '스트레스 해소와 재충전', '산림휴양활동', '건강 유지 및 체력 증진'의 순이었다. 선호 치유요법은 '트래킹, 산책 등 걷기요법'이 가장 많았으며 '피트니스, 기체조 등 운동요법'이 그 뒤를 이었다. 상품선택 시 주요 고려 요인은 '이용 비용의 적정성', '음식과 이용 식자재의 적절성', '의료진 및 직원들의 친절성' 등으로 나타났으나 이용편의성과 의료서비스의 질, 관광활동 관련 요인 등 전 요인에 걸쳐 높은 점수를 기록하여 상품에 대한 수요자의 높은 기대수준을 보여주고 있다. 또한 인구통계학적 세분시장 별로 이용관련 요인들에 대한 선호에 차이점을 보이고 있어 관련 상품의 기획과 운영 시 차별화 되고 세분화된 수요자 욕구를 반영하는 것이 필요할 것으로 보인다. 그러나 본 연구는 상이한 수요자 선호를 파악함에 있어 인구통계학적 세분 시장만을 규명함으로써 가장 기초적인 단계에 머무른 한계점을 지니고 있어 후속연구에서는 다차원적이고 복합적인 수요자 욕구에 대한 보다 정교화된 규명이 요망된다.

This paper dealt with developing conceptual model for making public policy on consumer product safety. The matters of consumer safety, public health and environmental protection are essential parts of making policy for consumer products. Moreover, policy authority should consider all measures based on consumer safety. In the process making regulations, policy authority has to have some methods to prevent errors on treating eligible persons as persons disqualified under uncertainty decision making of public policy. To recognize and ensure fairness on public policy, policy authority needs to establish basic policy making and fundamental concepts. Therefore, we developed conceptual model for consumer products safety, CPSPcon in this paper. The conceptual model is one part of SSM(Soft System Methodology) and can support specific policy target. The CPSPcon model can assist in evaluation of responses to an adapting or considering model.

The purpose of this study was to identify the determinants of decision-making confidence of clothing. As determinants, this study examined consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence, vanity, and clothing knowledge. Data were collected through surveying university students in Seoul metropolitan area using convenience sampling method. Out of 324 distributed, 300 useful questionnaires were returned. The results showed that identical conformity among consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence factors significantly influences, both directly and indirectly, decision making confidence through vanity. Although normative conformity does not influence decision-making confidence directly, it does significantly influence decision-making confidence indirectly through influencing vanity and clothing knowledge. The results suggest clothing is a manifestation tool for managing public self, which finally leads to increased clothing knowledge and decision-making confidence of clothing. These findings may be used by marketers in developing strategies for product development and promotion.

The purposes of this study is to investigate the attitudes and value of fashion product description and consumer replies used in online shopping malls, and to examine the differences in the perceived reliability(objectivity, expertise, trustworthiness) preference and purchase intention toward the product as determined by the appeal type (evaluation-sentimental vs. factual-information) of the product description, the direction(negative vs. positive) and type(factual vs. evaluative) of consumer replies for the product in online shopping malls. Data was collected from female college students with fashion products purchase experience at online shopping malls by questionnaire survey (N=424) and analyzed by using frequency analysis, t-test and ANOVA. Results showed that consumers respondents tended to read product description and other consumer replies before purchasing, when shopping for fashion products through an on-line shopping mall. They thought that sellers' product description and the consumers' replies were helpful in making their decision; but, they were also skeptical about product description. Respondents showed higher perceived reliability, preference and purchase intention to the factual-information type product description than the evaluation-sentimental type. Positive consumer replies were more effective in yielding higher preferences and purchase intentions. Factual replies tend to yield higher reliability than evaluative replies.

The purpose of this study were to examine the effect of consumer-brand relationship of fashion luxury product on brand loyalty and the mediating effect of consumer satisfaction. The questionnaire developed through the literature search and a survey was conducted both in on-line and off-line questionnaire simultaneously. Finally 227 data from women who had a buying experience of fashion luxury products were analyzed using frequency, factor analysis, ANOVA, t-test, regression analysis by SPSS for WIN program. The results were as follows. First, the consumers' brand identification was composed of three factors; self-connection, interdependence, attachment. Second, the consumer- brand relationship significantly influenced on the brand loyalty. Third, the consumer-brand relationship significantly influenced on the consumer satisfaction. Fourth, the consumer satisfaction significantly influenced on the brand loyalty. Fifth, the consumer-brand relationship had both direct and indirect effects on brand loyalty mediated by consumer satisfaction. The results indicated that causal relationship was existed among these three variables.

본 연구는 심미적 영향요소 중 하나인 단순/복잡이 과연 선호도에 어떠한 영향을 주고 다른 심미적 차원들과 어떠한 관계를 갖는지를 정립하기 위한 기초연구로 진행되었다. 이에 따라, 본 연구는 단순/복잡, 균형 그리고 선호도를 가지고 진행하였다. 본 연구는 근본적인 질문으로부터 시작하였다. 첫째, 심미적 차원 중 하나인 단순/복잡이 다른 요소인 균형과의 관계. 둘째, 심미적 영향요소인 단순/복잡 그리고 균형과 선호도와의 관계를 알아보는데 그 목적이 있다. 이를 위해 제품들을 범주화하고 각 범주별 제품들을 대상으로 실험하여 범주별 성향을 찾고 이를 기본으로 디자인 프로세스에 적용하여 검증하도록 한다.

The purpose of this study is to analyse injuries of consumer product and to propose an alternative standardization for the product safety based on results of the analysis related with consumer injury. Firstly, We categorized hazard factors according to industrial characteristics referred to current injury information in Korea. And secondly, we decided consumer injury index(CII) according to the results of current consumer injury. The consumer injury index is the concept of risky level, which was decided by probability and severity of injury. Lastly, we developed an alternative standardization for the product safety considering consumer injury index.

최근까지 제품디자인에 있어서의 조형요소의 심미성에 관한 연구가 많이 진행되어 왔다. 그러나 기존의 연구는 "심미성 요인이 무엇인가\ulcorner"에 초점을 맞추어 왔을 뿐 각각의 심미적 요소들이 사용자의 심미적 반응에 어떻게 영향을 미치는지에 대해서는 그다지 연구된 바가 없다. 따라서 본 연구는 제품디자인에서 심미성 요소를 내용미와 형태미로 나누어 서로의 상관관계를 파악하고 사용자의 심미적 반응에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지를 알아보는 연구이다. 더욱이 연구의 초점이 내용미 중 전형성을, 형태미 중 균형을 중심으로 서로의 심미적 반응의 영향정도와 관여수준과 국가와 같은 조절변수에 의해 심미적 반응이 어떻게 달라지는지를 검증하고자 하기 위한 연구이다. 본 연구를 통하여 실제로 디자인 현장이나 기업에서 디자인에 있어서 심미적 영향요소를 적용하는 데에 대한 의미 있는 시사점을 제공해주고 디자인의 심미성에 대한 이론적인 체계를 만들어가는 것에 기여하리라 본다. 기여하리라 본다.

Product liability is the law of the manufacturer's responsibilities for the consumers' personal injuries or the losses of property resulted from defective products. In today's many countries, the product liability law are being enacted because of the safety of product use and the protection of consumer's right. In korea, the product liability is going to enforce on July 1, 2002. Though the construction of product liability response system is urgent situation, domestic manufacture company's PL response system is not nearly prepared in present. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to discuss the Quality Management's importance and the PL countermeasures by presenting the difference of PL response system construction degree by the Quality Management Maturity degree

본 연구는 중국 내수시장에서 제품의 브랜드와 제조국에 따른 제품형태별로 중국 소비자들의 제품품질 지각에 어떠한 차이가 나타나며, 이들 두 요인에 의해 소비자들의 제품품질 지각이 실제 영향을 받고 있는지를 살펴보고, 중국 내수시장에서 제품형태별 중국 소비자들의 구매의사결정을 추정해 보고자 하였다. 이를 위해 본 연구에서는 중국 상해에 거주하는 성인 소비자들을 대상으로 C-TV 제품의 구매의사결정에 관한 설문조사를 실시하였다. 연구결과, 브랜드와 제조국을 달리하는 7개의 C-TV 제품형태별로 중국 소비자들의 제품품질 지각에 차이가 있으며, 브랜드와 제조국이 중국 소비자들의 제품품질 지각에 영향을 미치고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 중국 소비자들의 구매의사결정 모형의 추정 결과 단일 국적 제품의 경우에는 대체로 브랜드 선호도에 의해, 그리고 이중 국적 제품의 경우에는 주관적 규범에 의해 구매의도가 보다 큰 영향을 받고 있는 것으로 나타났다.

The consumers' concept and the acceptability of ginger and its processed product were surveyed by premade questionnaire. A total of 447 questionnaires were collected from housewives, restaurant managers and related processors at 7 regions in Korea. The 40.6% of total responsors reacted ginger as spice was necessary for food preparation by flavor(87.5%). The most difficulties of using ginger were peeling and washing(89.8%). The raw ginger purchased for their use was only utilized less than 70% of 46.5% and 50% of 21.3% of total responsors respectively. The processed and convenient style spices including ginger were accepted by 72.8% of qestionnaires and 76.9% of them hoped to have ginger paste. Such a convenient ginger products were more welcomed by younger generation than older.

Due to the rapid development of IT (information technology) and internet, products become smart and able to collect, process and produce information and can think of themselves to provide better service to consumers. However, research on the characteristics of smart product is still sparse. In this paper, we report the systemic development of a scale to measure the perceived product smartness associated with smart product. To develop product smartness scale, this study follows systemic scale development processes of item generation, item reduction, scale validation, reliability and validity test consequently. And, after acquiring a large amount of qualitative interview data asking the definition of smart product, we add a unique process to reduce the initial items using both a text mining method using ‘r’ s/w and traditional reliability and validity tests including factor analysis. Based on an initial qualitative inquiry and subsequent quantitative survey, an eight-factor scale of product smartness is developed. The eight factors are multi-functionality, human-like touch, ability to cooperate, autonomy, situatedness, network connectivity, integrity, and learning capability consequently. Results from Korean samples support the proposed measures of product smartness in terms of reliability, validity, and dimensionality. Implications and directions for further study are discussed. The developed scale offers important theoretical and pragmatic implications for researchers and practitioners.

As various types of information technology systems are becoming more pervasive than ever, many studies have evaluated the systems from the user perspective. Some of them have used surveys to measure consumers’ cognitive responses to the target technology. However, this method may cause problems if the survey participants do not have a useful frame of reference for evaluating an unfamiliar system. To examine this issue, the current study empirically tested the effect of personal product knowledge on the predictability of a behavioral model, such as Technology Acceptance Model. A series of measurement invariance tests as well as multi-group comparison tests were conducted for rigorous examination of the data. Our analysis showed that the variance of attitude that is explained by the two believes (perceived usefulness and ease of use) was relatively small when the survey respondents had lower amount of product knowledge. Moreover, the group had weaker causal relationship between attitude and intention to use the technology, hindering the predictability of the research model. The results indicated that respondents should have a certain amount of knowledge of the target system in order to form accurate beliefs and behavioral decisions. The findings of this study provide important implications on sampling strategies for researchers with new technology.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of country personality dimensions and product involvement on European consumers purchase and visit intentions, considering the Portuguese context. The increasing economic globalisation has resulted in the reducing of trade barriers between nations and the availability of more foreign products and services across borders. Therefore, the place associations of these products and services might be regarded as a potential competitive differentiator in their respective markets. Despite the proliferation of literature devoted to assessing the effects of country-of-origin, the symbolic dimension of a country’s image remains understudied. A questionnaire measuring country personality dimensions, product involvement, and consumer´s purchase and visit intention was passed on a sample of 335 European consumers. Country personality indeed matters both positively and negatively. Findings show that while assiduousness positively influences consumer’s visit intentions, wickedness has a negative influence on consumer’s purchase intentions. Findings also reveal that product involvement has a positive significant influence on consumer’s purchase and visit intentions. On developing marketing strategies, international marketers and governmental decision-makers should consider product involvement attributes and specific country personality traits to provide the country’s products with a competitive edge, as well as to promote the country as a travelling destination.

온･오프라인 유통 채널이 서로의 단점을 보완, 유기적으로 통합된 새로운 유통 패러다임으로 옴니채널쇼핑(omni-channel shopping)이 전 세계적으로 주목 받고 있는 상황이다. 소비자들은 자신들이 모르는 새 온･오프라인을 넘나들며 서비스를 이용하고(EC연구회 외, 2015), 이러한 서비스의 이용은 가속화 될 것이라는 전망이다. 그러나 소비자는 혁신적인 제품･기술을 바로 수용하는 것은 아니며 일정정도 저항을 거친 후에 수용하는 성향을 보이고 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 식음료판매 옴니채널쇼핑의 대표적인 서비스인 스타벅스 사이렌오더를 혁신의 개념으로 이해하고 이에 대한 잠재 이용자의 저항에 영향을 미치는 요인을 도출, 혁신저항이 소비자 만족도에 영향을 미치는지 확인해 보았다. 연구결과, 지각된 유용성, 소비자 혁신성, 복잡성, 복귀성이 혁신저항에 영향을 미치고 혁신저항은 소비자 만족도에 영향을 미치는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 본 연구 결과를 통해 옴니채널쇼핑의 후속연구와 관련 종사자들을 위한 실무적 정보를 제공 하는데 도움을 줄 수 있을 것이라고 생각한다.

This study is conducted to verify existing differences in consumer attitude according to distributor type and PB product type. Pre-test was conducted for this study in order to select the distributor and to classify the product type, FGI was conducted with 10 graduate students of K university in Kyong-gi. This study survey housewives, office workers, and university students excluding the participants in the pre-test. In the final analysis, research hypothesis is verified through the data of 280 answers in Korea. This research is conducted with a factor design of 3 types of distributors –department store, discount store, convenience store-and 2 types of product –utilitarian product, hedonic product. To verify the hypotheses, ANOVA is carried out. Reliability test of each measurement variables, Cronbach α coefficient is used. For each analysis, SPSS Windows 15.0 statistical program is used. The findings suggest that First, according to the size and characteristics, distributors are classified into department stores, discount stores, and convenience stores and it is verified whether if there are differences in consumers' attitude (product attitude, brand attitude and purchase intention) by the effect of different distributors. Results showed that product attitude is statistically significant. Second, product type is classified by two categories according to whether the product seeks for practicality or emotional pleasure - Utilitarian product and Hedonic product. In this context, the result after verifying whether if there is difference in the attitudes -product attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intention - in accordance with the product types is shown that utilitarian products makes bigger difference compared to hedonic products. Third, it is confirmed that there is interaction effect between product attitude and purchase intention according to the distributer type and product type. However, we find that in terms of brand attitude, there is no interaction effect. The implications of this research is as the following. First, we propose the need of PB product development and marketing strategy, which considers the product types in accordance with the scale and features of each distributor. Second, PB products should break away from the simplicity of standardized products and consider the different features of distributors. Distributors will be in need of a strategy to build a compelling brand that can differentiate itself from other distributors. This will contribute to the improvement in reliability and formation of product value.