EXPLORING SOCIAL MEDIA SEVICES OF GLOBAL FASHION BRANDS: DOES CUSTOMER SOCIAL PARTICIPATION HAVE AN IMPACT ON CUSTOMER EQUITY?

Heeju Chae,Eunju Ko,Jinghe Han 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2014 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2014 No.8

Social media, Web 2.0 based social activity and powerful marketing tool, brought about a new paradigm for the 21st century culture and society. In line with the trend, the fashion industry is vigorously undertaking marketing activities on social media, seeking to build and maintain relationships with their customers through the Internet and mobile devices. The one-way provision of information by firms to customers has evolved to a symmetrical form of customers, whereby the customers also supply information to the firms share information with other customers. Through social media services, customers not only share their thoughts and experiences but also exchange tangible products and publicize the products, thereby directly participating in production and marketing activities of brands. Such participation of consumers offers inspirations for differentiated service on the part of the brands, for which proactive and long-term participatory activities of customers are required. Customer participation is of primary importance in current service marketing industry. Until now, related literature on customer participation has mostly centered on offline service situations. However, the advent of social media has simplified the process of participation for customers, and invoking voluntary customer participation has become the greatest challenge facing service industries, and, at the same time, the path to success. Those of us who live in the age of information technology are offered the opportunity to engage in two-way communication with other customers, the brand, and the media. Thus, customer participation is just as, if not, more important in an online environment. More and more customers are becoming directly involved in brand activities, which affect the brands as well as the customers themselves. Nonetheless, extant customer participation research focuses on developing constructs that are largely based on offline situations. Although such constructs correspond in part to the online setting, they fall short of meeting the unique characteristics of customer participation in social media. Therefore, in order to establish constructs for customer participation in social media, revision and supplementation of the offline-based constructs were found to be necessary. Based on interaction theory, this study explored the notion of customer participation in fashion brands’ social networking site (SNS) service by categorizing it into three types: customer-customer, customer-brand, and customer-media participation. In addition, it examined the external factors that influence customer social participation and how active social participation of customers in SNS affects trust and customer equity. The association between measurement variables according to the brand type was also closely examined. This study underwent two pre-tests to revise and supplement the survey items on customer social participation. A preliminary investigation was conducted on 516 respondents, and a total of 582 respondents participated in the main investigation. The respondents who were invited to participate lived in Korea, were in their 20s or 30s, and had previous experience in using fashion brands’ SNS service, SPSS 18.0 was used to conduct frequency analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and t-test. Based on the results, AMOS 18.0 was used to undergo confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results of the study are summarized as follows. Based on the brand type (SPA and luxury) and the rate of sales, Uniqlo, a global SPA brand that boasts the largest number of SNS fans, and Louis Vuitton, a global luxury brand, were chosen for the study. The respondents consisted of consumers in their 20s and the 30s who, within the last six months, had previous experience in using the SNS service of the brands. The sample consisted of 40.7% male and 59.6% female, and 72.5% were in their 20s and 27.5% in 30s. A large percentage of the respondents were students (64.9%). The large proportion of university students reflects the trend of most active users of SNS being university students. Second, SNS service shopping context found positive association with customer-customer participation and customer-brand participation, but customer-media participation was insignificant. The results show that as the SNS is characterized by its linkage to different websites and platforms, customers are exposed to constant opportunities for participation. On the other hand, customer-media participation was found to be insignificant, which can be interpreted as indiscriminate constant supply of information that seeks to spur impulsive buying leading to antagonism of the customers. Such negative situations can be avoided by departing from indiscriminate provision of information to offering information that is customized to the needs and demands of each customer and invoking the customer to participate in information delivery. Third, SNS participation motivation and customer social participation were all positively associated. In particular, customer-media participation demonstrated the strongest influence, followed by customer-customer and customer-brand participation. As such, active participation of the customer with the brand is the most effective way to create collaborative, synergy effect or co-creation. Fourth, all routes from SNS user orientation to customer social participation were significant. SNS users in general possessed high levels of self-efficacy and tended to feel elevated as well as find altruistic pleasure in providing information that would help others. Such users participate through numerous ways such as customer-brand and customer-media participation but were the most active in customer-customer participation. Fifth, it was found that customer-customer and customer-brand participation builds trust of the customers toward the SNS service and the information or the information provider. However, cu

How do customers’ SNS participation activities impact on customer equity drivers and customer loyalty? Focus on the SNS services of a global SPA brand

Heeju Chae,고은주,Jinghe Han 한국마케팅과학회 2015 마케팅과학연구 Vol.25 No.2

As SNS services develop, consumer participation becomes more important in theprocess of service production and delivery, especially in the service marketing field. Consumer participation contributes to increases in companies’ productivity and servicequality. Therefore, the roles played by consumers include co-producer or co-operatorof products or services, as well as contributor to increased quality of product,satisfaction and values. In addition to using SNS to share their opinions, thoughts andexperiences, consumers have taken a step further, also using SNS to sell and buyproducts and to share promotions and reviews about the products. Therefore, thepurpose of this study is to define constructs of customers’ SNS participation activitiesin global SPA brands. Measurement items were extracted from previous studies andfrom in-depth interviews. The study examines the effects of customers’ SNSparticipation activities on customer equity drivers . value equity, brand equity andrelationship equity . in global SPA brands. Data are analyzed by factor analysis,frequency analysis, correlation and structural equation modeling using SPSS 18.0 andAMOS 18.0. The results of this study are as follows: first, there are six constructs ofcustomers’ SNS participation activities . request, e-WOM, helping, cooperation, newmedia seeking and sharing. Second, there are two constructs of customers’ SNSparticipation activities . e-WOM and cooperation that have a positive influence onvalue equity and brand equity. E-WOM, especially, also affects relationship equity. Third, customer equity drivers have an impact on customer loyalty. This study providesevidence of difference between customer participation activities in offline and onlinecircumstances. Moreover, it shows how customers’ SNS participation activities havepowerful effects on drivers of customer equity drivers and customer loyalty. This study,therefore, suggests the important role of customers’ SNS participation activities inincreasing customer equity toward fashion brand industries.

The effect of attributes of Korean trendy drama on consumer attitude, national image, and consumer acceptance intention for sustainable Hallyu culture

Heeju Chae,Joo Hee Park,고은주 한국마케팅과학회 2020 Journal of Global Fashion Marketing Vol.11 No.1

Despite its success in the world market, Hallyu’s stability as the leading cultural industry has been doubted. This study explores the effect of attributes of Korean trendy drama on consumer attitude, national image, and consumer acceptance intention. Affection and affinity are attributes of Korean trendy drama found to have positive influence on the consumer attitude towards Korean drama, which positively influences national image and acceptance intention of Korean visual media contents. Consumer response is found to differ in accordance with the length of stay in Korea. The study has significance in contributing to deeper understanding to sustain Hallyu across nations.

A STUDY ON THE GOODS MARKET WITH THE SPREAD OF GLOBAL FANDOM: FOCUSED ON HALLYU IDOL

Heeju Chae,Jang-Hee Shin,Sijun Sung,Subin Park 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2020 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2020 No.11

How do customers' SNS participation activities impact on customer equity drivers and customer loyalty? Focus on the SNS services of a global SPA brand

Chae, Heeju,Ko, EunJu,Han, Jinghe Taylor Francis 2015 마케팅과학연구 Vol.25 No.2

EXPLORING SOCIAL MEDIA SEVICES OF GLOBAL FASHION BRANDS: DOES CUSTOMER SOCIAL PARTICIPATION HAVE AN IMPACT ON CUSTOMER EQUITY?

Heeju Chae,Eunju Ko,Jinghe Han 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2014 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2014 No.7

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

A STUDY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCALE FOR SNS ACTIVITIES AS A LEISURE: FOCUSED ON INSTAGRAM

Heeju Chae,Taehee Lee,Jihyo Kim,Sijun Sung 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2020 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2020 No.11

체험적 패션 매장에서 체험 요인이 점포만족도와 점포충성도에 미치는 영향 연구

채희주(Heeju Chae),김민영(Minyoung Kim),고은주(Eunju Ko) 한국복식학회 2016 服飾 Vol.66 No.4

이창동 영화에 표현된 개인

채희주(Heeju Chae),민경원(Kyungwon Min) 한국콘텐츠학회 2015 한국콘텐츠학회논문지 Vol.15 No.2

이창동감독의 영화는 인간 개인으로서의 주체 문제에 대해 다루고 있다. 그는 영화 속 주인공들을 통해서 개인으로서 주체가 사회 속에서 어떻게 구조화되는지 보여주고 있는데, 이는 프랑스 현대철학자 미셸 푸코의 주체 문제와 상당부분 연결된다고 볼 수 있다. 푸코는 주체가 사회라는 거대한 구조 속에서 자기 주체성을 잃어버리고 객체화된다고 주장한다. 주체는 권력 속에서 소외된다. 또한 주체는 사회적 구조 속에서 정상과 비정상으로 구분된다. 이창동감독은 영화<시>를 통해 자기에 대한 배려를 담은 개인을 보여주고 있는데, 푸코 또한 말년에 자기에의 배려라는 차원에서 주체를 새롭게 해석하려는 시도를 보였다. 본 논문에서는 이창동 감독과 푸코가 공유하고 있는 개인 주체에 관한 문제를 살펴보고자 한다. Director Lee Chang-dong’s movies deal mainly with the matter of subject as a human individual. He attempts to show how the subject as a human individual is structured in society through the characters in the movies. It can be seen that a considerable part of this is connected to the matter of subject which is maintained by Michel Foucault, a modern French philosopher. Foucault contends that the subject has lost its identity in the huge structure of society and has become the object. The subject is alienated within the power. The subject is also divided into normality and abnormality in the social structure. Particularly, the movie <Poetry> directed by Lee Chang-dong shows an individual containing consideration toward self and Foucault also showed his attempts in his later years to newly interpret the subject in the context of consideration toward self. Through this thesis, I attempt to examine the matter of the subject that the film director Lee Chang-dong and Foucault have in common.

연구논문 : 패션브랜드의 이미지 기반 SNS에서 해시태그의 이용동기가 고객소셜참여와 브랜드 자산에 미치는 영향: SNS 참여도의 조절효과를 중심으로

채희주 ( Heeju Chae ),신지예 ( Jiye Shin ),고은주 ( Eunju Ko ) 한국의류산업학회 2015 한국의류산업학회지 Vol.17 No.6

Hashtag has emerged and become one of cultural trend. Given that more and more firms in the fashion industry are using hashtag on images based on SNS to provide information of their products and to communicate with their customers. Especially, hashtags through voluntary participation of users provides the perspective of how customers consume their products. Therefore, this study focused on the using motives of hashtag in image based SNS with customer social participation as mediator towards brand equity. The purpose of this study is (1) to investigate the usage motivation of hashtag of image contents based SNS, (2) to expose how each usage motive affects customer social participation and (3) to find out how customer social participation has an effect on brand equity. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, first we conducted an in-depth interview on 8 image based SNS heavy users to understand the using motives of hashtags. Furthermore, we conducted online surveys amongst people aged between 20s and 30s of image contents based SNS users. As a result of this study, followings were figured out. First, four of usage motivation of hashtag were examined through in-depth interview and previous studies; interest sharing, social interaction, ease of use and enjoyment. Second, usage motivation of hashtag has a significant effect on customer social participation. Third, customer-media participation and customer-customer participation impact positively on brand equity. Lastly, level of customer social participation has the moderating effect on the relationship between motivation of hashtag and customer social participation.