So Won Jeong

Impacts of store type importance and country of origin

Purpose – Retail success in China for dietary supplement products requires knowledge of the importance consumers place on store type as well as their perceptions of product characteristics such as country of origin (country where the product is made and where the brand is from). Accordingly, the purpose of the present study is to examine differences in purchase intention and its key antecedents such as attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control, based on store type importance and product country of origin (China versus USA). To test the proposed hypotheses, MANCOVA was conducted.Design/methodology/approach – A mail survey was conducted in Shanghai and the total number of usable questionnaires was 444.Findings – This paper revealed that perceived importance of large store format was significantly related to consumer attitudes and behavioural control for dietary supplement products, but country of origin was not important to Chinese consumers. Additionally, significant relationships with...

Impact of evaluative criteria on satisfaction and dissatisfaction: identifying the role of knitwear involvement

This research explores an impact of evaluative criteria on consumer responses to knitwear products (satisfaction and dissatisfaction). Two conceptual frameworks are developed to identify the role of knitwear involvement as an antecedent of evaluative criteria and as a moderator between evaluative criteria and consumer responses. The survey was administered with a total of 382 Korean consumers. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. The results confirmed the significant effects of knitwear involvement as an antecedent as well as a moderator on evaluative criteria, satisfaction, and dissatisfaction. Differential influences of evaluative criteria on satisfaction and dissatisfaction are shown. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Beliefs of small, independently owned rural retailers about internet use: a typology

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a typology of small, rural retailers based on personal beliefs about business use of the internet and to identify similarities and differences between the retailer subgroups in attitude, perceptual performance, and behavioral intention to use the internet.Design/methodology/approach – A mail survey is completed by owners of small, independently owned retailers in rural communities across the USA.Findings – Cluster analysis reveals three types of retailers: optimists, efficiency minded, and skeptics. Differences in attitudes towards use of the internet and intention to use the internet for purposes of strategic positioning are found across the groups.Research limitations/implications – The sample frame consists of small, independently owned retailers in rural communities, the response rate is low, and results will not generalize to small retailers in urban areas.Practical implications – The stories of optimist retailers can show efficiency‐minded retailers ...

Entry market choices and post-entry growth patterns among born globals in consumer goods sectors

Contrary to the mainstream born global (BG) perspective, some previous studies report the incremental expansion of BGs. In addition, the reasons behind BGs initiating specific steps, if any, and BGs’ entry market choices are still unknown or rather contrasting. This study views that such contrasting findings may be attributed to the contexts in which BGs operate. Within the context of consumer goods BGs, the purpose of this paper is to examine the entry market choices and post-entry growth patterns, and investigate the underlying reasons.,This study adopted in-depth historiographic case research from seven Korean BGs in the consumer goods sector that demonstrated success in internationalization. Multiple sources were used to gather data from each case. A total of 14 interviews, approximately two one-on-one interviews per firm, were the major means of data collection.,The findings revealed that first entry market choices among BGs functioned largely as attempts at emergent opportunities. However, after the first wave of entry into countries with available selling opportunities, entry market choice became a simultaneous pursuit of strategic markets and emergent selling opportunities. BGs focusing on image-oriented consumer goods appeared more strategic when entering the world’s leading markets to gain brand reputation. The analyses of internationalization processes revealed three patterns, which collectively implied that each move to the next stage came from a strategic decision to solve the problems related to survival and strategic visions for growth.,One contribution of this paper is the provision of empirical evidence for entry market choices among consumer goods BGs. The findings suggest that BGs’ entry market choices may not be a simple matter of simultaneous expansion to the world’s lead market. Instead, they may comprise more strategic decision. While previous studies have suggested such evolutionary or path-dependent internationalization processes, this study is among the first to reveal specific growth patterns and the possible reasons behind them.

Study on the Characteristics of Fashion Leaders in College Clubs` Fashion Networks

Fashion leadership is divided into visual influence, linguistic influence, and dual leadership. We refer to people exercising such influential power as fashion innovators, fashion opinion leaders, and fashion double leaders, respectively. Scholars and marketers have raised continuous questions on this issue: who are these fashion leaders and what characteristics do they have? In this study, social network analysis is applied to grasp the existence of three types of fashion leaders in college clubs, examine their positions in fashion process networks and investigate their individual and social characteristics. For this study, three college clubs were recruited through convenience sampling and surveyed online. Peer nomination questions for structuring fashion process networks and self-evaluation questions for measuring personal characteristics are included. Two fashion networks, an opinion leadership network and an innovativeness network, embrace four to six leaders and illustrate similar structure patterns in the three groups, which indicates that dual leaders enjoyed the lion’s share in college clubs. The number of fashion innovators tends to be fewer compared to that of fashion opinion leaders, and we infer that peer relationship appears to intervene with fashion opinion leadership. Other personal characteristics supporting results from previous studies are also confirmed in this study.