본 연구에서는 순례명상자의 참여 특성에 따른 영성적 웰빙, 삶의질, 회복 경험의 차이를 살펴봄으로써 각 참여 특성에 따라 순례명상자들의 경험을 세 분화하고 향후 순례명상 프로그램 구성에 필요한 정보를 제공하는 것을 목적 으로 한다. 본 연구의 연구대상은 인도 순례명상에 참여한 순례명상자 85명으로 영성 적 웰빙, 삶의질, 회복경험 척도로 구성된 설문지를 활용하여 서면조사를 실 시하였다. 수집한 데이터는 SPSS 18.0을 활용하여 빈도분석, 기술통계, 독립표 본 t-검정의 방법으로 분석하였다. 본 연구의 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 순례명상자의 영성적웰빙, 삶의질, 회 복경험에 대한 기술통계 분석을 실시한 결과, 영성적웰빙의 하위요인인 종교적웰빙, 영성적웰빙의 척도 전체, 실존적웰빙과 회복경험, 삶의질 순으로 평 균이 높게 나타났다. 둘째, 순례명상자의 연령에 따른 영성적 웰빙, 삶의질, 회복경험의 차이는 유의미하지 않았다. 셋째, 순례명상자의 참여계기에 따른 영성적 웰빙, 삶의질, 회복경험의 차이는 유의미하지 않았다. 넷째, 순례명상 자의 참여목적에 따른 영성적 웰빙, 삶의질, 회복경험의 차이에서는 영성적웰 빙의 하위요인인 실존적웰빙, 회복경험, 삶의질의 평균이 참여목적에 따라 차 이가 없었으며, 불교신행이 참여목적인 경우가 심리적인 도움이 참여목적인 경우에 비해 영성적웰빙의 하위요인인 종교적웰빙과 척도 전체의 평균이 유 의미하게 높은 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구는 순례명상을 경험한 참여자를 대상으로 그들의 심리적 변인에 대 해 경험적으로 확인이고 순례명상의 의미에 대해서 고찰하였다는데 그 의의 가 있다. 주제어: 순례명상자, 참여 특성, 영성적 웨빙, 삶의질, 회복경험.

With the pandemic of the early 2020s coming to a close, city politicians and planners around the world seek to bring in more tourists and entrepreneurs to assist their local businesses and domestic economies in the return to pre-pandemic levels. There exists a myriad of ways city officials attempt to attract visitors from festivals and fireworks displays to citywide initiatives and awareness programs. This study takes a look at a destination’s perceived coolness, how it is manifested through destination service quality and tourist app use, and how it affects an individual’s revisit intention based on structural and interpersonal constraints.

본 연구는 식품 영역에서 제품 패키지의 광택이 소비자들이 인식하는 기업 친환경성과 제품 품질에 미치는 영향을 확인하고, 최종적으로 구매의도에 차이를 유발하는지 확인하고자 실시되었다. 실험 참가자들은 패키지에 광택이 도 는 유광 조건과 광택이 없는 무광 조건으로 무선 할당되었으며, 케첩과 감자칩 제품을 보고 기업 친환경성 인식, 품질인식, 구매의도를 묻는 문항들에 응답하였다. 연구 결과, 소비자들은 무광 패키지 제품을 제조한 기업이 유광 패키지 제품을 제조한 기업보다 더 유기농 재료를 사용할 것이며, 더 친환경적일 것이라고 인식하였다. 또한 소비자 들은 기업이 친환경적일 것이라고 인식할수록 제품의 품질을 높게 평가하였으며, 더 높은 구매의도를 보였다. 본 연구는 패키지 광택의 효과를 친환경 식품 영역에서 기업 이미지 인식에까지 확장하였으며, 패키지 광택을 이용한 친환경 마케팅 방식을 제안했다는 점에서 이론적, 실무적 의의를 가진다. 본 연구의 한계, 가능한 향후 연구 방향도 함께 논의하였다.

The expansion of the online market is expected to change the purchasing environment. The purpose of this study is to examine the difference in the moderating effect of each characteristic on perceived quality and purchase intention according to the group according to product involvement and purchaser age. The first step is to identify the characteristics of online information sources and social media platforms through a literature review. Next, when perceived quality affects purchase intention, we verify the moderating effect according to the characteristics of online information sources and social media platforms. The moderating effect is verified at the stage by dividing it into a group according to product involvement and a group according to age. The following results were confirmed throughout the study: First, perceived quality significantly affects purchase intention. Second, in the relationship between perceived quality and purchase intention, the influence of the moderating effect is different depending on the high-involvement product and the low-involvement product. Third, it was confirmed that there was a difference in the moderating effect of online information sources and social media platforms in the relationship between perceived quality and purchase intention according to age. This study intends to increase consumers' purchase intentions by identifying specific age groups and product groups of involvement and establishing strategies suitable for the characteristics of online information sources and social media platforms.

본 연구는 국가지원 뷰티 관련 교육기관의 교육서비스품질이 수강생의 지각된유용성과 진로 준비행동에 미치는 영향을 규명하는 것 이였다. 연구참여자는 서울·경기 소재 국비지원 교육기관(학원)에 수강자 362명을 임의표집방법으로 표집 하였다. 수집된 자료는 SPSS 통계패키지 26.0 버전을 이용하여 기술통계, 요인분석, 신뢰도분석, 상관관계분석 및 다중회귀분석을 통하여 자료를 분석하였다. 일련의 연구절차를 통하여 도출된 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 교육서비스품질, 지각된 유용성 및 진로준비행동의 변인들은 상호 상관관계가 통계적 유의하게 나타내었다. 둘째, 교육서비스품질은 지각된 유용성에 통계적 유의하게 정적(+)영향이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 교육서비스품질은 진로준비행동의 정보수집 활동, 직무준비활동 요인에 통계적 유의하게 정적(+) 영향을 나타내었다. 넷째, 지각된 유용성은 진로준비행동의 정보수집활동과 직무준비활동 요인에 통계적 유의하게 정적(+) 영향이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 결과는 국비지원 뷰티관련 교육기관의 교육서비스품질을 재평가하여 뷰티관련 국비지원 사업의 효율성을 높이고 교육 서비스품질 향사아에 기초자료로서 활용할 수 있을 것이다.

BRIS has been established by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs since 2011 under Article 21 of the Act on the Preservation, Management and Utilization of Agricultural Life Resources. It is an information service that provides information related to agricultural life resources in connection with the Rural Development Administration, the Forest Service, and Korea Seed & Variety Service, Agricultural Resources and Agricultural and Livestock Quarantine Headquarters. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how the users assess the information system quality (information quality, system quality) for the current Bio Resource Information Service (BRIS). Ultimately, the structural equation modeling analyzes the causal relationship between each variable and how it responds to the user's continuous use intention. As a result, information quality among information system quality and information quality among system quality used as the main variables for the evaluation of BRIS were statistically positively influenced by users' perceived usefulness, while system quality It has been analyzed to have a positive effect on the sustained use intention. The user's continuous use intention is positively influenced by the information system quality and perceived usefulness at a statistically significant level. Especially, the perceived usefulness plays a role in mediating the user's continuous use intention.

Introduction Recent years have witnessed a rapid growth in peer to peer (P2P) sharing-service businesses such as Uber and Airbnb. In P2P sharing-service businesses, goods or services are provided by customers (peers) rather than by service firms, who act simply as an intermediary between customers. One customer acts as a service-providing customer (SPC), and the other as a service-receiving customer (SRC). P2P sharing-service firms have no direct control over an SPC’s quality of service provided to an SRC. Further, both SPCs and SRCs are customers to the firm, and therefore firms are concerned with the quality of service provided not only to SRCs but also to SPCs. In the P2P sharing-service context, particularly in the case of services serving the needs of diverse travelers (e.g., Uber or Airbnb), SPCs and SRCs can be people of different genders and races, which can cause them to feel socially distant from each other. Since SPCs are not professional service employees, they may not know how to cope with the social distance, which can result in uncomfortable service experience for both SPCs and SRCs. The more similar to the SPC an SRC feels, the more comfortable the SRC is likely to feel, which can lead to higher service satisfaction. Yet, few studies examined how such social distance can be reduced. This study is intended to fill this gap in the research. Specifically, we propose that an SPC’s form of address for SRC can moderate the effect of the incongruence in gender and race on an SRC’s perceived social distance. Theoretical Development Social distance refers to the level of acceptance people have of others outside of their own social group or class (Bogardus, 1928). It is a measure of perceived difference (or distance) between groups. In the context of the P2P sharing service, SRCs and SPCs can be from diverse social groups. When an SRC encounters an SPC from a social group that is different from theirs, the SRC can feel socially distant from the SPC. Immediate differences an SRC can identify upon meeting an SPC is demographic such as gender, age and race. In this study, we first propose that the difference (incongruence) in gender, age and race makes an SRC feel socially distant from an SPC. Social distance is closely related with similarity (Osbeck & Moghaddam, 1997; Liviatan, Trope & Liberman, 2009). In the context of mentoring, the higher the perceived and actual similarity a portage feels with a mentor, the higher the level of the portage liking and satisfaction for the mentor and with the mentoring service (Ensher, 1997). Matching gender and race between a mentor and a portage positively influenced self-reported grade point average, efficacy and confidence of a portage (Blake-Beard et al. 2011). Race was well demonstrated to influence social distance (Triandis & Triandis, 1960). Taken together, we conjecture that the effect of the difference in gender and race on social distance will apply to the P2P sharing service context and propose the following hypothesis: H1: The incongruence in gender and race between an SRC and an SPC will make SRCs feel more socially distant from SPCs compared to the case of congruence. We propose in this study that the form of address for SRCs by SPCs can influence the level of social distance SRCs feel because of the incongruence in gender and race. The relationship between forms of address and social distance has been proposed (Brown, 1965). Intimate terms of address is associated with intimate relationship. Intimate terms of address is inversely proportional to social distance (Keshavarz, 2001). Calling someone by the first name is related with friendliness (Brown, 1961). The use of first name is positively associated with closeness in relationship (Brown, 1965). An empirical study in the healthcare context showed that most patients preferred to be addressed by the first name (as opposed to last name) (Gillette, Filak & Thorne, 1984). Taken together, we propose the following: H2: Intimate forms of address by the SPC for the SRC will reduce the level of social distance caused by the incongruence in gender and race. We propose that the level of perceived social distance influences the level of comfort SRCs feel with the SPC during the service delivery. The negative effect of social distance on the level of interaction comfort has been shown (Paswan & Ganesh, 2005). In the context of service encounters where customers feel cultural differences, psychological distance was shown to influence comfort negatively (Weiermair, 2000). Since social distance is a dimension of psychological distance (Trope & Liberman, 2011), we propose the effect of social distance on comfort as following: H3: Reduced social distance will lead to a higher level of comfort. The effect of social distance on comfort can vary by customers. In this study, we propose that the effect is moderated by the customer’s motive for the purchase of the P2P sharing service. There are largely four movies for customers who participate in collective consumptions (i.e., sharing service): economic motive, social motive, hedonic motive, and the motive to reduce risks and responsibilities (Benoit, Baker, Bolton, Gruner & Kandampully, 2017). Economic motives are associated with reducing expenses, and social motives are with meeting other people (e.g. more authentic travel) (Benoit et al., 2017). Hedonic motives are related with “accessing products that are exciting or normally out of reach” while motives to reduce risks and responsibilities are related with “no burdens of ownership, option to preview a product for potential purchase” (Benoit et al., 2017). According to a research in the context of P2P accommodations, cost saving, familiarity, trust, and utility are determinants of satisfaction with a sharing option. Thus, we propose that customer motives moderate the effect of social distance on comfort (Möhlmann, 2015). H4: The effect of social distance on comfort vary by customer motives for purchase. When feeling comfortable, people are more likely to trust, feel satisfied, and commit themselves, which can help improve relationship (Spake, Beatty, Brockman & Crutchfield. 2003). Comfort positively influences perceived service quality and satisfaction (Dabholkar, Shepherd & Thorpe, 2000). Comfort influences satisfaction positively (Paswan & Ganesh, 2005). In the P2P sharing-service context, SRCs’ evaluation of SPCs are carried out by reviews. Customer reviews of SPCs’ services are vitally important for both SRCs and SPCs. Reviews help other SRCs to identify desirable SPCs (Ert, Fleischer & Magen, 2016) and SPCs to receive feedback for their service quality improvement. Therefore, we propose the following: H5: Comfort leads to SRC’s intention to write good reviews. Data Collection Data will be collected from American consumers who have used Uber at least once in the past one year through an online scenario-based survey using a 2 (genders: male vs. female) x 3 (races: white vs. yellow vs. black) x 3 (forms of address: no address vs. first name vs. last name) between-subject experimental design. Hypotheses will be tested by an analysis of variance and a structural equation modeling analysis. In the analyses, the potential effects of trust, familiarity, community belonging, utility (Möhlmann, 2015) and age will be controlled. Implications Findings of this study will reveal the importance of reducing social distance that SRCs feel during encounters with SPCs. Of many possible ways to reduce social distance between SRCs and SPCs, the result of this study will show that SPCs’ use of appropriate form of address to SRCs is effective. Further, it will show that the effect of social distance on customer comfort can vary by the purpose of the use of the sharing service. These findings will offer P2P service firms insights on how to help SPCs offer more comfortable services to SRCs and as a result receive positive reviews from SRCs.

Introduction The idiom “you are what you own” has been considerably transformed into “you are what you can access”. The shift from ownership to access, the results of endless hyper-consumption, and the change in value mindsets initiated a new phenomenon, which is Sharing Economy (SE). SE has grown rapidly and refers to an entirely new business model, socio-economic ecosystem, and context for sharing the access to goods and services in technology-enabled peer-to-peer (P2P) ecosystems or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) engagement platforms. According to Botsman and Rogers (2010), SE is a result of the linkage between offline and online world, which was triggered by the society to overcome natural resources constraints. Resources in SE can be tangible (e.g., cars and homes) and intangible (e.g., expert local knowledge and labor). SE allows the sustainable use of idle resources, and it enables sellers to create new and flexible opportunities to market to consumers who experience personalized and even customized products and services at lower prices (Yang, Song, Chen, & Xia, 2017). SE opened up new horizons for a considerable number of new players across industries from a supply perspective by broadening the options for supply, which also remedies the response to peak demand. SE has given a rise to the humanization of consumer-supplier relationship in tourism and hospitality (TH), and sharing has become a mainstream practice in this context. The recent shift of customers‟ willingness to share accommodation with a host as opposed to using a private hotel room has many implications for TH (Lu & Kandampully, 2016). For example, Airbnb has become one of the most prominent competitors in hotel industry, and it enables people to lease or rent short-term accommodation including vacation rentals, apartment rentals, homestays, and even experiences via instant booking. From cash-strapped travelers to high-end business travelers, Airbnb has revolutionized the TH service in a new form of contractual relationship and gained a well-grounded popularity. Some scholars, on the other hand, argued that SE is a “fundamentally different business model” which could make it a new marketplace instead of a direct competitor in hotel industry. From this point of view, Airbnb do not compete or pose a challenge to traditional TH services but extend the concept of TH (Lu & Kandampully, 2016). Hotel industry has reactively responded to the direct, indirect, and induced effects of Airbnb to economy, and Airbnb‟s impact on hotel industry have recently been researched by several scholars (Mody, Suess, & Lehto, 2017; Priporas, Stylos, Rahimi, & Vedanthachari, 2017; Zervas, Proserpio, & Byers, 2017). Customer engagement in TH has been empirically found to enhance customers‟ service brand evaluation, brand trust, and brand loyalty (So, King, Sparks, & Wang, 2016). Guests attach great importance to motivational drivers, more meaningful “beyond-purchase” social interactions and unique experiences in authentic settings, which give rise to customer engagement beyond the service encounter. Disruptive innovation theory also states that products or services that offer alternative benefits compared to conventional attributes can transform a market and attain a critical mass, which can be observed in Airbnb‟s story (Young, Corsun, & Xie, 2017). Airbnb is successfully promoting the mottos of “Belong Anywhere” and “Don’t Go There. Live There” to their guests. The feelings of trust and belonging were negatively changed by mass production and noncustom travel experiences, and people sometimes forgot the meaning of community due to high tendency of prestige and advertising. Consumers‟ changing attitudes towards utilization and accessibility compared to ownership created an indirect need for intimate connection between people, namely human connection. Then, social concerns upon products and services gave a rise to mass-customized product and service expectations of consumers. This is where Airbnb‟s value proposition comes into play. First, it creates not only financial but also personal rewards through a “personal concierge” and a “home away from home” experience. Second, Airbnb is not a simple transaction, rather it is deemed to be a lifetime experience. So “guest experience” is at the heart of Airbnb‟s strategic position. From the “experience” point of view, SE has also opened up new rooms for service research. Service in the context of Airbnb is considered as an experience, rather than a utilitarian relation. Also, service quality has always been a critical factor in highly-competitive service industries like TH. Service quality perception is multi-faceted, and the studies focusing on it are rather limited, especially in hotel industry. These studies highlighted the complexities associated with evaluating service quality and the contribution of service process delivery on service outcomes, which results in the perception of service quality. Therefore, perceived service quality can be influenced by different internal processes and interpersonal variables. In order to study service quality in Airbnb, the types of settings in this context are to be noted. There are two main types of hosting via Airbnb: (1) remote hospitality, which refers to hosting situations in which the host does not physically share the place with the guest (e.g. booking the entire place), and (2) on-site hospitality, where the host is physically present and sharing the apartment with the guest. Mainly, on-site hospitality is an important part of the sociability within the host–guest relationship. Priporas et al. (2017) studied service quality in the context of remote hospitality, and we decided to respond to their relevant call for future research on the other type of Airbnb accommodation, which is on-site hospitality referring to “Shared Rooms” and “Private Rooms” in Airbnb‟s listings. “Shared Rooms” refer to an exact communal experience with the host, and guests sleep in a space that is shared with others and share the entire space with other people. “Private Rooms” refer to privacy, to some extent, in which guests (i) value a local connection (ii) have their own private room for sleeping and (iii) may share some spaces with others. We do expect that human connection and experience gap can be better researched with on-site hospitality existing in “Shared Rooms” and “Private Rooms”. This is because hosts design their services to create and build a relationship with their guests, leading to superior guest experiences and the so-called positive moment-of-truth. In addition to the online storytelling on hosts‟ home pages, the most important moment-of-truth is created during the guests‟ stay at the host‟s place; thus, the host plays a major role in the customer‟s perception of service and the subsequent review of the experience (Lu & Kandampully, 2016). Considering the previously mentioned “experience gap” in the literature, our research question and relevant sub-questions are as follows: • What are the antecedents of perceived service quality in Airbnb on-site hospitality? o How well does SERVQUAL suffice for measuring perceived service quality in this context? o How well the cognitive and attitudinal factors expand this measurement? o What are the additional perceived service quality factors that can be derived from guests‟ online textual reviews to remedy the “experience gap”? Literature review Cheng (2016) conducted a systematic review of SE by using co-citation and content analysis of papers, and the findings reveal three distinct research areas of SE: (1) SE‟s business models and its impacts, (2) Nature of SE, and (3) SE‟s sustainability development. Moreover, two unique areas, specifically in TH, were identified: (1) SE‟s impacts on destinations and TH services and (2) SE‟s impacts on tourists. The comparison of both literatures has revealed limited expansion in TH literature despite the fact that TH are at the frontier of SE (Cheng, 2016). Pesonen and Tussyadiah (2017) conducted cluster analysis to identify user profiles corresponding to consumer motivations for using TH services of SE. They concluded that a consumer group uses TH services of SE to make their trips more convenient, while another group uses these services mostly for social reasons. Yang et al. (2017) studied the loyalty in SE services from relational benefits perspective and concluded that confidence and social benefits have significant and positive effects on commitment in SE services. Molz (2014) introduced the term „Network Hospitality‟, which is relatively new and rooted in old traditions of welcoming strangers. Airbnb represents just one of many types of network hospitality, and in Airbnb, trust is almost shaped based on peer reviews, not solely on one-to-one peer interactions. The online review information becomes the basis for members‟ reputation in the network. The information accumulated on Airbnb‟s online platform helps both parties to establish their reputation, as well as publicizing their personalities, thereby facilitating the process of finding the best match. Moreover, there are hundreds of people working in Airbnb‟s customer service, trust, and safety departments who are devoted to ensuring the intimacy provision of trusted services. Airbnb requires all hosts to abide by their “Hospitality Standards”, which include expected levels of cleanliness, commitment, and communication. The flexibility, reliability, and consistency of Airbnb‟s service providers help them to build and maintain the relationship Airbnb enjoys with their guests and hosts (Lu & Kandampully, 2016; Zervas et al., 2017). Pine and Gilmore (1998) predicted the rise of experience in their seminal study, referring to the “experience economy” and also stating “As goods and services become commoditized, the customer experiences that companies create will matter most.” They called this as “Staging Experiences”. Also, there exists evidence in literature that providers are shifting their focus from product- and service-oriented to design of quality experiences. In terms of the glamour of SE in TH, a “more unique experience” is deemed to be second only to better pricing. Airbnb may eventually address all elements of the accommodation experience, from travel reservations to ticketing for local attractions. Consumers are looking for local authenticity in their travels. Psychological authenticity refers to emotional genuineness, self-attunement, and psychological depth (Walls, Okumus, Wang, & Kwun, 2011). If TH industry is to surpass its SE competition in terms of guest experience, it should leverage an expanded experience economy paradigm that incorporates additional dimensions (Mody et al., 2017). Authentic host-guest experiences probably only exist between like-minded and privileged members who possess high cultural capital (Cheng, 2016). With that, Walls et al. (2011) have suggested the need for researchers to identify specific dimensions “that exist in both our everyday and tourist experiences”. Both in Airbnb and traditional TH, guest satisfaction and likelihood to reuse are driven by similar factors such as quality and utility of services, trust to the host, and economic value. There are several models for measuring service quality, including SERVQUAL (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988) and SERVPERF (Cronin & Taylor, 1992). Service quality literature received widespread attention after the seminal work by Parasuraman et al. (1988) as they proposed the gap model and developed SERVQUAL (an attribute-based technique) as a tool for measuring service quality. According to SERVQUAL, service quality consists of five dimensions measured by a total of 22 items. The proposed five service quality dimensions are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. SERVQUAL basically requires measures of expectations and performance, and service quality is calculated from subtractions between these two components (i.e., performance [P] - expectations [E]). Regarding service quality in TH, Akbaba (2006) utilized SERVQUAL for business hotels, and Priporas et al. (2017) inquired SERVQUAL‟s applicability in Airbnb context with promising results. The major distinction between two research directions (i.e. hotels vs. Airbnb) is that even though guests expect similar core services such as clean rooms and comfortable beds, different attributes support the competitive advantage of hotels and Airbnb. While conveniences offered by hotels are unparalleled by Airbnb accommodation, the latter appeal to consumers driven by experiential and social motivations (Pesonen & Tussyadiah, 2017). Research model This research aims to identify the antecedents of perceived service quality of guests‟ in Airbnb on-site hospitality context. Our research model is presented in Figure 1, and it is subject to enhancement through the analytics of guest reviews. A survey will be developed to test the proposed research model. The items of constructs will be mainly derived from extant literature and enriched with the linguistic and textual analysis of reviews. Firstly, factors shaping expectation are predicted as per the literature and preliminary analysis of random guest reviews: (i) host‟s reputation capital (e.g., ratings and reviews), (ii) host‟s photos, (iii) guest‟s past accommodation experience, and (iv) word of mouth. Secondly, SERVQUAL part in the model is the same as proposed by Parasuraman et al. (1988). Last but not least, Airbnb is deemed to promote global geographical imaginaries (e.g., collaboration, social equity, solidarity, community, trust, reciprocity, altruism, autonomy, intimacy, and authenticity) to justify their business model (O‟Regan & Choe, 2017). Finally, regarding the guest review analysis, Airbnb has a detailed review mechanism, and we have gathered the publicly available reviews that are up to 500 words. We have observed cognitive and attitudinal dimensions within reviews through text analytics and grouped those in the research model as follows: • Intimacy: The emergence of intimacy as a commercial value in TH industry has been researched. (e.g., How well people know each other? How people occupy space together? How people share private information, family pictures, furniture choice etc.?) (Prager, 1997) • Authenticity: We focus on the existential authenticity (i.e., being one‟s true self or being true to one‟s essential nature) from guests‟ perceptions (e.g., Is Airbnb like ‘living the local life’?) (Lalicic & Weismayer, 2017) • Commitment: It refers to the consistent behavior of Airbnb hosts in terms of social and cost components. (e.g., How well hosts abide by Airbnb policies and procedures? Do hosts have ongoing effectiveness of service?) (Lu & Kandampully, 2016) • Privacy: It refers to the psychological zone to disclose personal and cultural values. Informational and physical privacy threats are important in Airbnb context (Lutz, Hoffmann, Bucher, & Fieseler, 2017). • Security: It refers to the state of being free from danger or threat. According to Yang and Ahn (2016), security in Airbnb‟s services is a more powerful antecedent of attitude toward Airbnb than significant dimensions of motivation toward SE, such as enjoyment and reputation. With that we will only elaborate on interpersonal security in Airbnb (i.e., between host and guest, not between guest and Airbnb). Conclusion SE is a fairly new and multi-disciplined field that covers open rooms for research, and specifically, Airbnb is one of the most prominent businesses in this context. The literature review presented underlies the infancy of well-grounded studies covering service quality perceptions of customers in SE. Seeking for additional dimensions from Airbnb guests‟ reviews is a novel research approach in studying customer engagement, and those dimensions shall be included in the research model. This research has certain limitations. Our perceived service quality conceptualization requires empirical validation to establish the boundaries of the construct. The guest reviews in Airbnb are subject to data quality issues. Also, reviews should contain substantial amount of words up to a certain threshold. Data collection from emerging world regions is rather tough since Airbnb is not widespread across those regions. Thus, US and European countries will be firstly taken into account, where the use of Airbnb is quite common. The study is expected to provide useful insights for TH practitioners and managers. It can underlie the factors that trigger customer engagement in this context. Cognitive/attitudinal factors are foreseen as the differentiators, which stand as the basis for service design and delivery.

This study reviews the SERVQUAL model theoretically and statistically in relation to the nonlinearity of the perceived service quality. Perceived service quality measurement based on the SERVQUAL model assumes that consumers evaluate service quality by comparing their perceptions with their expectations. However, previous studies adopt linear factor analysis to discuss the SERVQUAL model. The present study assumes that consumers evaluate the service quality with a standard to admit the difference between their expectations and perceptions, and that their perceived service quality follows a nonlinear response. A nonlinear SERVQUAL model based on a nonlinear factor analysis model is proposed to understand the characteristics. The proposed model employs a threshold specification that represents the space in which consumers admit their discrepancy. The study extends a nonlinear factor analysis model to a nonparametric model in order to examine the functional aspects that from the perceived service quality. A nonparametric SERVQUAL model is adopted without any assumptions of the functional form. The empirical studies on the retail sector shows that the nonlinear model performs better than the linear model, and that the nonparametric model estimates the nonlinear function for perceived service quality. The results from the proposed model in our study provide insights in a consumer’s perceived service quality recognized as nonlinear and asymmetric. We conclude that the functional form for perceived service quality should be considered when specifying the measurement model for SERVQUAL. In addition, we discuss future work for a nonlinear measurement model and a nonparametric factor analysis.

This study investigates the relationship between B&B customers’ perceived service quality, satisfaction and repurchase intention. Based on literature review, the customers and managers of selected B&Bs in some Chinese provinces were interviewed for additional sub-dimension possibility for the SERVPERF model and a service recovery sub-dimension was thus added. A questionnaire consisting of 40 questions were designed, using a fivepoint Likert-type scale ranging from “1” reflecting "strongly disagree" to “5” "strongly agree". This study collected data via an online survey platform “WJX” from experienced Chinese B&B customers’ who had staying in a B&B at least once in a B&B in China one year prior to data collection. A pilot test was conducted and some of the question items were slightly amended for easier understanding. In March 2017, the main survey was conducted and 356 questionnaires were received. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in two folds. It not only unveils customers’ perceived service quality in a rapidly developing B&B industry in China but also offers B&B owners/managers insights on how to better engage their customers in enhancing their satisfaction and ultimately repurchase intention. Some conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, the B&Bs in China should pay attention to improving customers’ perceived service quality by optimizing their marketing network and channels to facilitate better internal exchange among B&B owners/managers. Second, it is advisable to strengthen the training of service providers in instilling the importance of service recovery and to actively communicate with the in-house guests to enhance customer satisfaction. Third, the B&Bs should offer quality service to not only improve customer satisfaction as a whole but also enhance customers’ willingness to return. Lastly, the B&Bs should bring local characteristics of "people" into play, relying on local products and service resources, deepening the cultural connotation of the B&B.

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

Level of urbanization in China has reached 53.73% in 2013, indicating a tremendous progress on the urbanization of China. On the other hand, the number of villages in China reduces by around one million from 3.6 million in 2000 to 2.7 million in 2010 (Zhang, 2014). Issues in both urban and rural areas of China appear, including the imbalance between increased population and limited resources in urban region, and more significantly, the increasing disparity between rural and urban areas. Chinese researchers interpret and analyse these matters from different perspectives. For instance, Zheng (2006) and Ma (2006) suggest the importance of the infrastructure construction and public service. Wu (2006) advises that the government should pay attention to the development of the secondary and tertiary industry. Wen (2005) proposes that the improvement of social institution and the recovery of social cultural environment are required to achieve sustainability in the urbanization process in China. Previous studies in environmental psychology put quality of life, attachment to place, and residence satisfaction at the center to understand the relationship between inhabitants and their neighborhood of residence. However, there are gaps in this research realm in both practice and theories. Firstly, very limited research studies this environmental psychology issue in China (e.g. Mao, Fornara, Manca, Bonnes, & Bonaiuto, 2015). Secondly, there are different opinions on the causal order between quality, attachment, and satisfaction. Research on the relationship between perceived residential environment quality (PREQ), place attachment, and environmental satisfaction has not reached a consensus. The debate on the direction of the causal relationship between perceived quality and satisfaction has been summarized by Bradya and Robertson (2001). They conclude that the quality to satisfaction causal order holds up well across diverse cultures. However, relevant debate is still ongoing. A number of research articles place satisfaction as an antecedent to attachment, e.g. Chen, Dwyer, and Firth (2014); Lee, Kyle, and Scott (2012); Ramkissoon and Mavondo (2015); etc. Some argue that place attachment is an indicator of satisfaction. Kyle et al. (2004) investigate the effect of place attachment on the perceived values of tourists and find that place attachment is an important factor explaining the variance of perceived values. This is supported by research e.g. Hwang, Lee, and Chen (2005); Prayag and Ryan (2012); Yuksel, Yuksel, Biljm (2010); etc. As to the relationship between perceived quality and attachment, the debate has not stopped. Through comparisons, Mesch and Manor (1996) conclude that the residents who give a higher evaluation of the social and natural environment may have greater place attachment. Brown, Perkins, and Brown (2003) also suggest that the residents who agree that the street environment is better would attach to this place. Sam, Bayram, and Bilgel (2012) have certified the relationship between residential environment quality and place attachment. Furthermore, Borrie and Roggenbuck (2001) and Walker and Ryan (2008) find that the connection between human beings and the nature environment would affect their affection toward the environment. It means that the closer the relationship with the nature environment is, the stronger the attachment would be, which in turn, enhances the intentions to protect the environment. This quality to satisfaction relationship is supported by other research such as Bonaiuto, Aiello, Perugini, Bonnes, and Ercolani (1999); Grisaffe and Nguyen (2011); Yu, Chen, and Chen (2015); etc. Nevertheless, a different opinion arguing that attachment to a place may affect one’s perception on the quality related to a place is emerging in tourism research (e.g. Neuvonen, Pouta, & Sievänen, 2010). This paper takes the credit of quality → attachment → satisfaction causal order as the initial model and proposes three hypotheses as follows. H1a: One’s PREQ has a positive impact on his/her attachment to this place; H2a: One’s attachment to a place has a positive impact on his/her satisfaction to the environmental settings in this place; H3a: Place attachment in addition performs as a mediating role between PREQ and environment satisfaction.To be noted, the initial model has its theoretical basis as discussed above but is not necessarily the absolute optimal model. Relatively, this model provides more theoretical interpretation and practical implications in the specific research context: residential psychology in urban and rural areas of China. On this basis, this article further examines a competing model illustrating an alternative theoretical framework on the relationships between these three constructs (satisfaction → attachment → quality). Relatively, another group of hypotheses in this competing model is listed as follows. H1b: One’s attachment to a place has a positive impact on his/her PREQ; H2b: One’s satisfaction to the environmental settings in this place has a positive impact on his/her attachment to this place; H3b: Place attachment in addition performs as a mediating role between environment satisfaction and PREQ. A survey approach is employed and data are collected from several backgrounds. Dataset A (rural) is collected from three villages from Heilongjiang Province and two villages from Shandong Province in China from July to August 2014. The choices of the provinces, rural areas, and the sampling process are random. 490 valid questionnaires are included in the data analysis. Dataset B (urban) is collected via an online survey portal, which allows a nationwide sampling reach. In total 1368 online survey entries are recorded and 420 valid questionnaires are included, resulting in a valid rate of 30.7%. The measures for each construct are based on an extensive literature review. The measurement of perceived residential environment quality is from Sam, Bayram, & Bilgel’s (2012) development on the perception of residential environment. The measurement of place attachment in this study is adopted from Kyle, Graefe, and Manning’s (2005) and Chen, Dwyer, and Firth’s (2014) evaluation based place attachment dimensionality and scales. As for the scale of environmental satisfaction, Pelletier, Legault, and Tuson’s (1996) measure was applied. All the entire variables adopted multiple-item, 5-point Likert scales were adopted, where “1” indicated “strongly disagree” and “5” indicated “strongly agree”. After pre-testing the preliminary version of the survey instrument, a revised version was developed. This study adopts structural equation modeling (SEM) based on partial least squares (PLS) modeling given the small sample size and the explorative purpose of this study (Dijkstra & Henseler, 2015a). The software used was Smart PLS 3.0. The reliability and validity of the constructs were assessed. Cronbach’s alpha and the value of CR of each construct were found to exceed the cut-off value of 0.70 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981), except for adequacy of education which is close to 0.70 (only for Cronbach’s alpha but not for CR). Furthermore, the AVE of each construct exceeded the variance attributable to its measurement error cut-off value of 0.50 (Chin, 1998; Fornell & Larcker, 1981). In addition, heterotrait-monotrait ratio (HTMT) is recommended as a better method to test discriminant validity (Henseler, Dijkstra, Sarstedt, Ringle, Diamantopoulos, Straub, Ketchen, Hair, Hult, & Calantone, 2014). The result shows that there is neither value of the HTMT higher than the threshold of 0.85 nor confidence interval containing the value one, indicating that all the constructs exhibit satisfactory discriminant validity. The hypothesized effects in the theoretical model were tested by structural equation modeling (SEM). The first group of models tested the effect of perceived environmental quality on environmental satisfaction through place attachment i.e. initial model (Model A, Model B, Model C), while the second group of models tested the reverse effect of environmental satisfaction on perceived environmental quality through place attachment (Model D, Model E, Model F). Both the full model and the multi-group model were tested. The value of SRMR of the full model that tests either the effect of perceived environmental quality on environmental satisfaction (SRMR = 0.104, t = 41.826, p < 0.001) or the reversed effect (SRMR = 0.106, t = 37.736, p < 0.001) shows that the models fit the data quite well (Dijkstra & Henseler, 2015b). However, the former is little bit more significant. In this study, PREQI is found different impacts on place attachment and environmental satisfaction. This provides evidence to support a similar mechanism of studying residents’ psychology with SERVEQUAL model. However, the model testing is found significantly different between rural and urban samples, indicating a systematic difference in the psychology of rural and urban populations. Quality  attachment  satisfaction causal order is found significant and supported by both samples in this study. However, a reversed causal order model (satisfaction  attachment  quality) is also supported by the samples. Although the results may not be able to end the debate on alternative models between PREQ, place attachment, and environmental satisfaction, this paper provides empirical evidence from a specific context (urban and rural China) for further research. Specifically, PREQ has a significant impact on place attachment in both urban and rural areas in China. As for the impact of place attachment on environmental satisfaction as well as the indirect impact of PREQ on environmental satisfaction, the influence is more significant in cities of China compared to rural areas. This suggests in the urban areas in China, affective and emotional responses to their lives play an important role to residents. Local government in cities should balance between improving and maintaining quality of the environment and strengthening local residents’ psychological attachment to the place. Governments in rural areas, on the other hand, should lay great focus on the physical aspects of the environment including nature, health, education, commerce, and venture of the rural areas, to enhance residents’ living experience and satisfaction. Further, there are some limitations. Although this study attempts to clarify the framework of “perception-affection-attitude” in the field of environment management, considering the practical implications, the future study could bring the individuals’ behaviors or intentions into this model such as willingness-to-pay for environment-friendly products. It will also benefit from reviewing more literature on community-based social marketing.

Although country-of-origin has been a controversial topic in literature, there has been little research effort to explain the nature linkage between country-of-origin and perceived quality from consumers in emerging markets. Drawing on the notion of country-of-origin, this study proposes the concept of product-country-image which is operationalized with the three components of cognitive, affective and conative. Structural equation modeling is employed to explore the relationship between the product-country-image and perceived quality. The findings indicate that only ‘affective components’ are positively related to ‘conative components’ among three pairs. What is more, structural equitation modeling demonstrated that the influence of product-country image on perceived quality is simultaneously regardless of the level of consumers’ familiarity with a foreign country’s product. Using data collected from 348 Vietnamese consumers, this study generates new insights for academics and practitioners.

정신보건서비스의 궁극적 목적은 이용자의 삶의 질 향상이라고 할 수 있다. 본 연구는 수정낙인이론에 근거하여 정신장애인의 삶의 질에 지속적으로 부정적 결과를 초래할 수 있는 낙인이 자아존중감을 매개하여 삶의 질에 어떠한 영향 관계를 갖는지를 검증하는 데 그 목적을 둔다. 특히 이러한 경로 과정이 주요한 정신보건세팅인 정신보건센터, 정신요양시설, 사회복귀시설 내에서 어떠한 차이가 나타나는지를 비교․분석하여 조직 형태별로 사회 복지적 개입방안의 차별성을 찾고자 하였다. 조사대상은 총 563명의 정신장애인이며, 정신보건센터 233명, 사회복귀시설 142명, 정신요양시설 188명이 최종 분석에 포함되 었다. 주요연구결과는 첫째, 공동 구조방정식모형 분석에서는 치료진의 지지가 높을수록 낙인지각이 높았다. 둘째, 타인의 지지 나 가족의 지지가 높을수록 자존감이 높아지고 삶의 질도 높아진 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 자기비하감이나 낙인지각이 높을수록 삶의 질은 떨어졌다. 끝으로, 다중집단분석을 통해 삶의 질을 설명하는 변수들 간의 경로가 세 집단에서 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났다.

본 연구에서는 농산물점포인 대형슈퍼마켓을 대상으로 상품의 품질, 애프터서비스, 판매촉진, 상품다양성 등 점포이미지 요인과 만족, 점포의 지각된 품질, 고객충성도 간의 관계를 분석하여 점포의 지각된 품질, 만족, 고객충성도 각각에 대한 점포이미지 요인을 확인하였고, 또한 점포이미지 요인이 고객충성도에 미치는 영향을 확인하였다. 연구결과로는 점포이미지 차원과 점포의 지각된 품질 관계에서 상품의 품질, 애프터서비스 및 판매촉진이 점포의 지각된 품질에 영향을 주었다. 점포이미지 차원과 만족 관계에서 상품의 품질, 판매촉진 및 상품의 다양성이 만족에 영향을 주었다. 점포이미지 차원과 고객충성도 관계에서 상품의 품질 만이 고객충성도에 영향을 주었다. 다음으로 점포이미지 차원, 점포의 지각된 품질, 만족 및 고객충성도 등 구성개념 간의 관계에서는 상품의 품질, 애프터서비스 및 판매촉진은 점포의 지각된 품질에 영향을 주었고, 상품의 품질 및 상품다양성은 만족에 영향을 주었다. 점포의 지각된 품질은 만족에 영향을 줌으로써 만족은 고객충성도에 영향을 주었다.

디스플레이의 화질평가에는 일반적으로 주관적인 화질평가와 객관적인 화질평가로 나누어진다. 객관적인 화질평가는 디스플레이의 물리적 특성을 측정하고 평가한다. 주관적인 화질평가는 시청자의 주관에 따른 디스플레이의 화질을 평가하는 방법이다. 디스플레이의 화질평가에 있어 객관적인 화질평가 방법은 화질의 정도에 대해 정량적으로 평가가 가능하나 관찰자의 감성, 관심영역, 외부환경이 등이 고려되지 않아 객관적인 평가방법이 시청자의 주관적인 평가의 결과와 일치하진 않는다. 반면에 주관적인 평가는 많은 시간이 소요되고, 정량화의 방법 또한 어렵다. 이에 따라, 디스플레이의 화질 평가에 있어 인간 시각 특성에 대한 분석과 정량화가 필요하다. 본 논문에서는 모바일 디스플레이의 화질을 평가함에 있어 인간의 주관적인 특성에 대해 인지 백색점과 인지 색 재현을 모델링하여 주관적 화질 평가의 정량화 방법을 제안한다. 이를 모델링함에 있어 주관적인 실험을 통해 선호 백색점과 11개의 primary 색에 대해 선호 색 좌표를 찾고, 이에 대해 평가 할 모바일 디스플레이의 특성화 된 영상과의 색 좌표의 거리를 통해 인지 화질평가의 정량화 방법을 제안한다.

As the number of medical tourist continues to increase over the last decade, there is an emergent need to manage the medical tourism market. However, there is a lack of hard evidence to support growth in future. Thus, this research is to investigate the effect of perceived risk on the actual service experiences of medical tourists. The data was collected from 153 foreign patients who were admitted to the hospital between August and November, 2013 at four tertiary general hospitals and one general hospital, in either Seoul or Incheon. For the statistical analysis of data, hierarchical multiple regression analysis were implemented. The major results of this study are as follows: First, foreign patients chose word-of-mouth as the major information source for the purchase decision and also as the main method to reduce risk. Second, a positive attitude toward medical tourism significantly influenced on the perceived service quality. Third, perceived risk on through all purchase stages negatively influenced on perceived risk. In "pre-visit" stage, patients perceived more risks for financing and making an uncertain decision. Meanwhile, in "during-stay" stage, culture related(food, cultural differences and communication) and finance related(additional cost) were indicated as the major factors. For "post-discharge" stage, the medical side(recovery pain, side effect & complication) and the financial side(whole time and money invested, cost for follow-up care) were ranked in the top groups. Fourth, the risk reduction in the "pre-visit" stage significantly influenced on perceived service quality compared to other stages. This indicates that foreign patients perceive a high quality of service if they do more risk reduction activities before visiting the destination. The major risk reduction methods included gathering advice of friends and family, consulting with expert, direct trial and collecting information through formal source. The implications as follows were drawn from the results of this study. First, hospitals participating in medical tourism services should use experienced patients as marketers and the stories of their experiences as marketing tools. Second, the hospitals or governments should advertise both the excellence of the medical service and the subsidiary benefits of medical tourism. Third, reducing perceived risk of medical tourists should be managed in advance. Fourth, risk reduction activities should be induced before the patients visit.