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Despite the growing popularity of online secondhand platforms globally, there is a lack of studies exploring how consumers worldwide perceive contamination and the use of secondhand goods differently according to the culture. Based on the consumer contamination theory, this study aims to investigate the cultural differences of South Koreans and Americans by examining three variables (e.g. transaction type, ownership duration and physical attractiveness) related to consumers' perception of contamination and purchase intentions for a secondhand apparel item.

Data were collected from 422 US and South Korean female consumers who were assigned to an experimental scenario, and their secondhand purchase intentions and perceived contamination were compared through independent t-tests and moderated regression analyses.

Consumers' purchase intentions increased, and perceived contamination decreased when the transaction type was business-to-consumer (vs consumer-to-consumer), when the item had been owned for a shorter period of time and when the item was sold by an attractive seller. Such effect was more pronounced for South Korean consumers than the US consumers in the negative contamination contexts (i.e. transaction type, ownership duration), but not in the positive contamination context (i.e. attractiveness).

The findings of the study add to the literature on consumer contamination theory through an examination of several negative and positive contamination factors in retail contexts and highlight the role of culture as a critical moderator.

To extend the understanding of country image to the country whose image is less distinctive, the purpose of this paper is to examine two salient factors: one country’s prototypical brand and its cultural influence (i.e. Korean Wave) on shaping the country’s image in the context of Korea and its subsequent impact on product evaluation and purchase intention. Built on the prototype and schema theories, a research framework is proposed and empirically tested on two product categories (cosmetics and tires).

Data were collected from US consumers ages 20 and older and analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The findings largely supported the proposed framework with two additional paths (Korean Wave to product quality and Korean Wave to purchase intention). In both product categories, the findings confirmed that the image transfers from the prototypical brands (e.g. Samsung) to the country image (i.e., Korea), from Korean Wave to country image, and from the macro country image to the micro country image. The influence of the prototypical brand image was greater than that of the Korean Wave. However, some differences were found across product categories; the positive impact of the macro image on product quality evaluation was supported only for tires, not in the case of the cosmetics. The path from the Korean Wave to product quality evaluation was significant only for the cosmetics, and not for the tires.

These findings provided new theoretical perspectives for country image studies, and practical insights for companies, especially in countries whose image is less distinctive, to help develop effective marketing strategies in different product categories.

It is critical to understand how global consumers evaluate the quality of Asian products while marketing Asian products in the global marketplaces. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of Korea’s macro and micro country image and global consumers’ materialism level on the quality evaluation of Korean cosmetics among consumers in four countries.

Data from 900 participants were collected from consumers aged 20 or older living in economically developed countries (the USA and France) and economically developing countries (China and Vietnam) via professional online survey firms. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data.

Along with the direct effect of macro and micro country image and materialism on product quality evaluation, a moderating effect of materialism and the respective country was discovered. Subsequently, the effect of macro country image on quality evaluation was found to be only significant in the USA and France and not in China and Vietnam. In contrast, the impact of micro country image was robust across all four countries. Furthermore, the effect of materialism on product quality was significant only in Vietnam. This implies that materialistic consumers in emerging markets might have favorable perceptions regarding the quality of Korean cosmetics.

This study advances country image research by providing new theoretical and managerial implications for countries whose image is less distinctive with respect to the effective marketing of products by the destination countries’ development status and consumers’ familiarity.

While country image consists of two hierarchical images – macro country image at the country level and micro country image at the specific product level – previous studies have largely failed to detail its varying effects by product category and by the level of a country’s economic development. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the macro and micro country images of four countries (USA, Italy, Korea, and Malaysia) on Saudi consumers’ purchase intentions in two product categories (symbolic and functional product).

Data were collected from shoppers older than 20 years of age at several shopping malls in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia via mall intercept method.

Analyses of 496 data revealed that the effects of macro and micro country images differ by product category. In particular, both macro and micro country images were equally relevant to the purchase intention of symbolic goods (i.e. handbags), while micro country image played a greater role in the purchase intention of functional goods (i.e. cell phones). A partial country moderating effect was found. The effects of micro country image on the purchase intention of handbags were valid only in Italy, where product-country match is high.

This study advances country image research by highlighting how the effects of macro and micro country images on purchase intention differ by product category and by country. The findings suggest which aspect of country image (i.e. macro vs micro) should be actively communicated in the marketing of symbolic and functional goods.

One of the major concerns in the emerging phenomenon of collaborative consumption (CC) is the issue of contamination (i.e. feeling “grossed out” when sharing items with others). Guided by the law of contagion and the consumer contamination effect theory, this research investigated the ways in which companies can manipulate in order to reduce the negative contamination when renting or purchasing used fashion items from others. Specifically, this research examines this issue of contamination through the ownership type of the shared goods (e.g. corporate-ownership or B2C exchange, and consumer-ownership or C2C exchange) and its effect on consumers' CC intentions in two distinct sharing contexts (i.e. rental and secondhand purchase).

A total of 181 American female consumers were assigned to an experimental CC scenario, and their rental/secondhand purchase intentions were compared through ANCOVA analysis.

In both rental and secondhand purchase contexts, consumers displayed greater intentions to shop in B2C setting (i.e. corporate-ownership) with no direct contact with the previous owner, than in C2C setting (i.e. consumer-ownership) with a greater association with the previous owner and the shared items. Such inclination was more prevalent when purchasing a shirt than a handbag, suggesting that consumers feel more grossed out when there is greater physical contact with the shared item.

The findings of the study suggest a possible solution to alleviate the contamination effect, and the discovery of the degree of contact as a moderator provides new insight into contamination research.

Built on the prototype and cue theories, the purpose of this study is to understand how a country's prototypical brand, a corporate brand that most consumers associate with a country (e.g. Samsung), contributes to forming two dimensions of country image – overall country image (i.e. macro country image) and product-specific country image (i.e. micro country image) – and how country image impacts the product quality evaluations of Korean cosmetics, along with the moderating effect of national culture.

Data were collected from 491 US and Chinese consumers ages 20 and older and analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The findings confirmed the positive influence of prototypical brand image on macro and micro country image. Macro country image also had a positive effect on micro country image. However, only micro country image yielded a positive influence on the quality evaluations of Korean cosmetics. Analyses of the moderating effect of national culture showed that the positive influence of prototypical brand image on macro and micro country image was found to be stronger in China than in the US.

These findings provided new theoretical perspectives for country image studies, and practical insights for companies and governments, especially those in countries whose country image is less distinctive, to help develop effective marketing strategies.

This paper advances a research agenda for service researchers at the intersection of healthcare and information technologies to improve access to quality healthcare at affordable prices. The article reviews key trends to provide an agenda for research focusing on strategies, governance and management of key service processes.

This paper synthesizes literature in information systems, service management, marketing and healthcare operations to suggest a research agenda. The authors draw on frameworks such as the interpretive model of technology, technology acceptance model, assemblage theories and Baumol's cost disease to develop their arguments.

The paper situates strategy-related service management questions that service providers and consumers face in the context of emerging healthcare and technology trends. It also derives implications for governance choices and questions related to that.

The paper discusses service management challenges and concludes with an agenda for future research that touches on governance and service management issues.

This paper provides implications for healthcare service providers and policymakers to understand new trends in healthcare delivery, technologies and facilities management to meet evolving customer needs.

This paper provides implications for managing healthcare services that touch on many social and societal concerns.

This conceptual paper provides background and review of the work at the intersections of information systems, marketing and healthcare operations to draw implications for future research.

Busan (Pusan), Korea’s second largest city (population 3.6 million) and fifth busiest port in the world, is experiencing rapidly increasing trade, global connections, events, and resulting infrastructural projects. What should Busan do to better handle the social, political, and economic complexities brought by these changes?

To answer this question, this paper explores the relationship of globalization and culture, as treated by cultural anthropology. It also considers how the tools of applied social science and anthropology can be mobilized to help Busan and the southeast region of Korea deal with these challenges.

After introducing anthropological treatments of culture, globalization and global problems, I discuss how applied social science/anthropology is used in international business/trade, tourism, and transport/logistics, especially the third area. To show how applied social science can help transportation and logistics projects in Busan and Korea, I present lessons from case studies and examples in Denver, Colorado Springs, Chuuk (Truk, South Pacific), and Korea.

Applied social science and applied anthropology present a wealth of helpful methods and insights to help Busan and Korea improve planning, public participation, political, social and environmental issues in transport and logistics projects, and to help prevent ethical and budgetary lapses. Finally, I offer suggestions for initial training programs and future studies to help expedite these goals.

Purpose – The purpose of the research was to examine the process of new teacher evaluation policy development in South Korea, in order to gain insight into how a controversial policy could be established in education. Research questions were about the process of the policy development, political actors involved and their influences, and the meaning of teacher evaluation in the newly established teacher evaluation policy.Methodology – The study uses a qualitative and descriptive-analytical process from a hermeneutics perspective that views policy as text to be interpreted. This perspective allows policy to be connected to a larger social context through interpretations of text. The main data sources included policy documents, statements by various organizations, research reports, and public media artifacts produced between 2000 and 2012. For data analysis, constant comparison and content analysis methods were used.Findings – The findings show that the process of developing a teacher evaluation system demonstrated an unsuccessful attempt to apply the Habermasian notion of discursive democracy. Relevant stakeholders were invited to deliberate on the reform, but official meetings ended prematurely without consensus. In the end, the government proceeded without full support of any stakeholders. During the deliberation process, teacher organizations and parent groups demonstrated conflicting perspectives on teacher work and the new evaluation system only partially accommodated both perspectives. The effectiveness of the new evaluation system remains to be researched.Value – The policy development process and the evaluation system shown in this study should inform similar efforts in other contexts.

New towns deserve renewed attention as today's urban megaprojects in the developing world. They are increasingly built amid governments’ attempts to connect their rapidly growing metropolises to the global economy and to promote them as world cities. This chapter revisits Korea's Bundang and Ilsan new town projects on the outskirts of Seoul. Their fast and lucrative development outcomes established an ill-founded expectation of Korea's new towns being profitable projects and even inspired emulation by other developing countries. To comprehend why the two city-scale new towns differed from those in the West, which often faced difficulties of long timeframe, financial risks, and uncertain outcomes, the chapter examines both their development causes and processes, considering Korea's political, economic, and housing situations of the late 1980s. Rather than long-term planning goals, Bundang and Ilsan served short-term political motives of Korea's first democratic regime, which saw in them a quick fix for some of its political and economic challenges. This determination bore fruit – but with two important prerequisites: (1) Korea's institutional order, marked by state involvement and control over housing development; and (2) Seoul's unique housing market conditions at the time, especially for new apartment units. Planners and policymakers, whether in Korea or elsewhere, should understand the major contributors to Bundang and Ilsan's success before attempting to replicate an experience of fast and profitable development that may no longer be attainable.