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- P-ISSN1738-3110
- E-ISSN2093-7717
- SCOPUS, ESCI
ISSN : 1738-3110
Vol.12 No.8
Abstract
Purpose - The method of TV home shopping is a kind of retail method that provides the viewer with information about products and, further, sells the products to consumers through the media of television. The domestic home-shopping industry has been expanding since 1995, and there are six companies in this arena as of 2012. In this study, we evaluate the management efficiency of TV home-shopping companies and provide suggestions for improving efficiency, using the DEA (data envelopment analysis) model. Hence, we expect to contribute to the progress of the companies' efficiency and the development of the TV home-shopping industry, where deepening competition is inevitable because it is experiencing the maturing market stage in its life cycle. Research design, data, and methodology - Efficiency is the ratio of the quantity of input to the quantity of output of a product or service. It is necessary to estimate aggregate inputs and aggregate outputs, which are calculated by applying a weighting to a number of input and output factors, to measure the efficiency. The DEA model is divided into the CCR model and the BCC model. The CCR model is a basic model that assumed constant returns to scale (CRS), and the BCC model extends the CCR model to accommodate technologies exhibiting variable returns to scale (VRS), and concerns only the technical efficiency without considering the efficiency of returns to scale. In this study, we consider six companies each year from 2008 to 2012 as a DMU (Decision Making Unit) and analyze the differences in efficiency for each company in each year. Furthermore, we evaluate the operating characteristics of TV home-shopping companies, using three models, in accordance with the overall performance, profitability, and marketability of the business. Results - The result of the analysis, using DEA models, shows that Hyundai Home Shopping (2009, 2010, 2011), GS Home Shopping (2011), NS Home Shopping (2011) and CJ O Shopping (2012) possess MPSS (most productive scale size), with a score 1.0 in CCR, BCC, and scale efficiency. Particularly, Hyundai Home Shopping is shown to be the most efficient in terms of overall business performance, marketability, and profitability. The overall efficiency of the home shopping industry has displayed an increasing trend since 2008, even though it decreased marginally in 2012; further, we can observe that home shopping companies operate with increasing efficiency with the passage of time. Conclusions - Home shopping companies have focused on market expansion rather than profits, as they displayed better efficiency in marketability than increase in profitability during the period 2008-2012. In addition, the main reason for the increased efficiency in the home shopping industry is the market expansion through the revenue increase of each home shopping company. This study can be used as a reference when home shopping companies attempt to devise future strategies, as it suggests efficiency benchmarks and development levels for each home shopping company.
Abstract
Purpose - The use of corporate social activities to implement the concept of corporate social responsibility enhances brand equity and attitude, and strengthens economic competitiveness. In areas such as mobile communications, companies take the responsibility of protecting customers and enhance the quality of the mobile communication service, helping to make an effort to obey the regulations of the public trade order and fair trade agreement, enabling a healthy society through communication with elderly living alone or youths without parents, and enhancing marketing strategies. Research design, data, and methodology - To test the hypothesis, a survey was conducted. The surveyed population includes people who use the big three mobile communication services. The survey was conducted from October 4th to October 14th, 2013. A total of 500 survey questionnaires were circulated and 483 were collected; out of these, 32 were excluded due to missing or incomprehensible information. The data was analyzed with SPSS 18.0 via frequency analysis, trust analysis, search factor analysis, relationship analysis, confirmation factor analysis using AMOS 18.0, and structural equation model analysis. Results - Research on corporate social responsibility has been frequently conducted recently. Companies are perceived as social constituents satisfying the social desires of people in addition to customer needs. Further, companies are returning profits to society to satisfy community needs, because there is greater emphasis on the social responsibilities of companies. Companies' social responsibilities should include marketing strategies and the identification of customer needs. This study shows that social service activities influence brand value, which influences customer attitudes; therefore, social service activities indirectly influence customer attitudes. In order to increase customers' purchasing intention, it is essential to improve brand image via social services and provide a distinctive quality of service. Conclusions - This research has used the purposive selection method in the empirical analysis to identify the effect of social services on brand value and customer attitude. Therefore, this study revealed that businesses, whose ultimate objective is to improve customers' purchasing intention, should promote their brand equity through corporate social responsibility activities and offer a distinct service quality. Limitations in the progress of research were found and future indications to overcome these limitations are suggested as follows. First, survey responders had a limited understanding of social responsibilities; therefore, this concept needs to be explained to people first. Second, the research was done on people who live in Daejeon; thus, it is not representative of the entire country. The research has to be repeated with people in other cities. Third, there is a limitation in the study because the purposive selection method was used on Daejeon customers. In the future, a more precise selection of the population is needed. Fourth, Daejeon has unique geographical and size characteristics. Thus, customers in Seoul and other areas may display different characteristics and research on them may reveal different findings. Therefore, again, this study has to be repeated in other areas.
Abstract
Purpose - Recently, a variety of activities for practicing the continuing management of domestic and foreign companies have been conducted and further, corporate social responsibility for maximizing the value of stakeholders such as customers, cooperative companies, and the local community emerges as a key business strategy. Accordingly, the issue of whether corporate image and customer value through corporate social responsibility activities positively affect customer loyalty and customer attitude is investigated in this study. Research design, data, and methodology - Corporate social responsibility activities are classified into legal and moral activities, environmental protection activities, economic activities, and community service activities; further, customer values are classified into emotional value, functional value, and social value, to determine the parameters. In addition, the strategic approach direction of social responsibility activities is justified as a strategy for effectively achieving the expected results that corporations seek by proving the effect of these parameters on customer loyalty. Results - The study results can be summarized as follows. First, legal and moral activities, environmental protection activities, economic activities, and community service activities are four types of CSR activities affecting meaningful improvements in corporate image. Second, legal and moral activities affect factors that meaningfully improve customer value, including factors such as emotional value, functional value, and social value, while environmental protection activities affect improvements in the factor of social value only. Third, corporate image affects meaningful improvements in customer value. Fourth, corporate image affects improvements in customer loyalty positively. Fifth, the three factors of customer value, that is, emotional value, functional value, and social value affect meaningful improvements in customer loyalty. Sixth, customer value acts to partly mediate the effect of companies' CSR activities on customer loyalty. As shown in the study results above, it was verified that CSR activities affect meaningful improvements in corporate image and customer value and, in turn, corporate image and customer value affect meaningful improvements in customer loyalty. In addition, it was verified that customer value acts to partly mediate the effects of companies' CSR activities on customer value. Conclusions - Accordingly, the results of this study suggests as follows. First, it was clearly verified that customers' recognition of CSR efforts has a positive effect on corporate image, customer value, and loyalty because CSR activities improve the relationships between customers and corporations by providing customers with value. Second, it was suggested that corporations implement social contribution activities strategically according to the theory that the higher the rate of CSR activities, the better the corporate image and repurchase intention would be, which is a theory verified through practical analysis. Corporations should do this by constructing positive relationships from the value perceived by customers. To summarize the study results in a brief manner, it is suggested by the results of the study that a corporation should conduct CSR more actively to make customers recognize the positive image of their products and services.
Abstract
Purpose - This study was based on a theoretical consideration of the structural relationship between the support and control of the franchisor and the satisfaction and strategic response (voice, loyalty, exit, neglect) of the franchisee. First, based on the preceding research, this study systematically organized the type of support and control of the franchisor. Second, the study examined the effects of a franchisor's support and control on the expectancy disconfirmation between affiliated franchisees' expectations before a franchise agreement and performance after operating an affiliated store. Third, the study looked into the effects of expectancy disconfirmation relating to a franchisor's support and control on an affiliated franchisees' general satisfaction. Fourth, this study examined the influence of the general satisfaction of a franchisee on affiliated franchisees' response strategies. Research design, data, and methodology - In this study, the population comprised the nation's franchisors, and the sample comprised franchisees conducting business in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. A self-administered questionnaire was used; the author and examiner explained the study's parameters to the interviewees in advance, to lessen the rate of rejection of the answers and to maintain reliability. The author distributed 350 copies of the questionnaire and collected 327 copies (93.4%). The author removed 54 copies of the sample, as these copies belonged to franchisees that were not registered by the Fair Trade Commission and/or were thought to have either defects or inadequate answers. The author selected an effective sample of 273 copies to enter data and to do the statistical analysis. Results - Both a reliability analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis were performed to measure reliability and validity, and a structural equation model was used to conduct the hypothesis test and investigate the models. The hypothesis was tested (Table 5). The models had a suitable fit, for instance, χ<sup>2</sup> = 447.663(df = 212, p = .000), χ<sup>2</sup>/df = 2.112, GFI = .881, AGFI = .858, RMR = .083, RMSEA = .067, NFI = .932, and CFI = .961. The hypothesis test results were as follows. Hypothesis 1 was accepted (C.R. = -2.339, p = .019). Hypothesis 2 was accepted (C.R. = 15.213, p = .000). Hypothesis 3 was accepted (C.R. = -2.631, p = .006). Hypothesis 4 was accepted (C.R. = 16.271, p = .000). Hypothesis 5 was accepted (C.R. = 2.391, p = .017). Hypothesis 6 was accepted (C.R. = 5.777, p = .000). Hypothesis 7 was accepted (C.R. = 17.153, p = .000). Hypothesis 8 was accepted (C.R. = 24.746, p = .000). Hypothesis 9 was accepted (C.R. = -10.150, p = .000). Hypothesis 10 was accepted (C.R. = -12.124, p = .000). Conclusions - The research results showed that expectations for a franchisor's support and control had a significant influence on expectation disconfirmation in a negative way, whereas the performance of support and control were found to have a significant influence on expectation disconfirmation in a positive way. In addition, the expectation disconfirmation of support and control was found to have a significant influence on satisfaction of franchisees in a positive way. Generally, regarding the research on control, control is found to have a negative influence on the satisfaction of franchisees, but this study proves that control is found to affect it in a positive way through conformity.
Abstract
Purpose - Despite the importance of price, many companies do not implement pricing policies smoothly, because typical price management strategies insufficiently consider logistics efficiency and an increase in logistics costs due to logistics waste. This study attempts to examine the effect of product line pricing, which corresponds to product mix pricing, on logistics efficiency in the case of manufacturer A, and analyzes how logistics performance changes in response to these variables. Research design, data, and methodology - This study, based on the case of manufacturer A, involved research through understanding the current status, analyses, and then proposing improvement measures. Among all the products of manufacturer A, product group B was selected as the research object, and its distribution channel and line pricing were examined. As a result of simulation, for products with low loading efficiency, improvement measures such as changing the number of bags in the box were suggested, and a quantitative analysis was conducted on how these measures influence logistics costs. The TOPS program was used for the Pallet loading efficiency simulation tool in this study. To prevent products from protruding out of the pallet, the maximum measurement was set as 0.0mm, and loading efficiency was based on the pallet area, and not volume. In other words, its size (length x width) was focused upon, following the purpose of this study and, then, the results were obtained. Results - As a result of the loading efficiency simulation, when the number of bags in the box was changed for 36 products with low average loading efficiency of 73.7%, as shown in <Table 11>, loading efficiency improved to 89.9%. Further, from calculating logistics cost based on the cost calculation standard of manufacturer A, the amount of annual logistics cost reduction amounted to 101,458,084 KRW. Given that the sum of the logistics cost of the product group B of manufacturing enterprises A is 400,340,850 KRW, it can be reduced by 25%, to 298,882,766 KRW. Although many methods improve loading efficiency, this study proved that logistics cost could be reduced by changing the number of bags within boxes. If this measure is applied to other items, visible logistics cost reduction effects will be realized through improvements in loading efficiency. Conclusions - Future pricing policies should consider their correlation with quality, loading efficiency, product specifications, and logistics standardization to prevent logistics waste, enabling management to improve earnings for companies. Thus, when companies decide pricing policies for new products, the aspects of merchandising and marketing should take priority; however, the aspect of logistics also needs to be considered as significant. Measures revealed by the study results are not only the responsibilities of manufacturing enterprises. Pricing policy agreements between manufacturing enterprises and distribution companies, and logistics factors related to price determination should be considered; further, governments should also support them for their collaborations. This will enable consumers to purchase quality products with low prices.
Abstract
Purpose - This study is to examine the effect of environmental orientation on innovation, environmental and market performance in Korean franchise firms' context. This study also investigates how environmental orientation, innovation and environmental performance play mediating roles between environmental orientation and market performance. For these purposes, the authors developed a structural model which consists of several constructs. In the model, environmental orientation was proposed to affect innovation and environmental performance, while innovation and environmental performance influence market performance. Specifically, innovation and environmental performance were proposed as core mediators between franchise firms' environmental orientation and market performance. Research design, data, and methodology - The data were collected from 155 franchise firms in Korea during January 2012. The results of factor analysis with reliability test with Cronbach's α warranted unidimensionality of the measures for each construct. In addition, nomological validity of the measures of each construct was warranted from the result of correlation analysis. The data were analyzed with reliability analysis, and structural equation modeling with SPSS Win/PC 18.0 and AMOS 18.0. Results - The results of the overall model analysis appeared as follow: χ<sup>2</sup>=52.388(df=21), p=.000. GFI=.932, AGFI=.854, NFI=.964, CFI=.978, RMSEA=.099, RMR=.059. Since the result of the overall model analysis demonstrated a good fit, we further analyzed our data. The findings can be summarized as follows: Firstly, the environmental orientation had a positive effect on innovation and environmental performance, but had not a direct effect on market performance. Secondly, innovation had a positive effect on environmental performance, but had not a direct effect on market performance. Thirdly, environmental performance had a positive effect on market performance. Conclusions - The results of this study show that, in order to achieve competitive advantages and environmental and market performance in turbulent market situation, franchise firms should emphasize internal and external environmental orientation, and put through improvements in perspective of technology, organization, and product. Consequently, this research suggests that environmental orientation is a motive for franchise companies' innovation, environmental performance, and market performance. It also suggests theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and further research directions.
Abstract
Purpose - Increasing sales of PB rice products can hinder the growth of domestic brands of rice, notwithstanding that the government is promoting domestic brands of rice. This analysis evaluated the influencing relationship among the variables of PB image, product credibility, and purchase intention of consumers who have never bought PB rice, to know the factors influencing consumers' decisions to purchase PB products. Research design, data, and methodology - PB products' brand image was analyzed as the factor that has a direct effect on purchase intention. The mediation effect of credibility on PB products is also analyzed, in terms of influencing the relationship between PB products' brand image and purchase intention. The analysis is performed on consumers that have not purchased a PB product and consumers who have purchased PB products from major distributors. Data is collected through questionnaires, from 389 of responders, and the AMOS 19.0 statistics package is used as a statistical tool. Results - It is proven that brand image has direct effects on the credibility of the product, and the credibility of product has a direct effect on purchase intention. However, it is revealed that brand image does not directly affect purchase intention, but that brand image indirectly affects it through the credibility of the product. Although the customers' recognition about PB image is low, the result shows that PB products' external attributes have effects on customers' purchase intention relating to the PB product. Therefore, it is important to establish the credibility of the PB product more than other products in terms of marketing. Conclusions - The following are the implications of the study. First, in a rice brand promotion, the credibility of the product should be ensured by a uniform brand image. To ensure the credibility of a product, the RPC brand and other brands should be unified, and the unified brand image should be applied to every product. Second, the package must possess a design as well as contents that could build consumers' perception of product credibility. Products' external attributes contribute to their credibility, which leads the consumers to purchase the products, including those consumers who have never bought PB rice products. Therefore, the products' credibility and sales can be reinforced by applying information about consumers' considerations when buying the PB rice product in different colors, font sizes, and packaging designs. This study is meaningful in two ways. First, it seeks to identify an NB revitalization strategy by exploring the purchasing behavior of customers who have no experience in buying PB rice products. Second, the results of previous studies about general brands are considered and applied in this study in order to investigate the influencing relationship among different factors of PB products. However, this study is a consumer awareness investigation; therefore, its results only have limited meaning to the relationship between brand image and purchase intention.
Abstract
Purpose - Today, the importance of the service industry has increased. Social welfare businesses that follow the non-profit principle have neglected the distribution of the service. However, an intangible service, when produced and consumed, has a similar service delivery system to common service distribution and social welfare. Therefore, the author has assumed the efficiency of the service delivery system of social welfare to be equivalent to the service distribution industry. Hence, various kinds of social welfare services for the prevention of elderly suicide, from the perspective of distribution, are discussed. Studies on generational relations have thus far investigated depression from parent-children conflict, and satisfaction with their lives. Studies on the relationship between family solidarity and elderly suicide by analyzing existing social problems are rare. This study investigated the effects of family solidarity between old parents and adult children upon elderly suicide by analyzing serious psychological and social problems. This study revealed basic measures for elderly suicide prevention through services that could elevate family solidarity from the perspective of social welfare service distribution. Research design, data, and methodology - The subjects were 468 elderly, 65 years or older, at 18 senior welfare centers and halls for the elderly at Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. Questionnaire surveys, excluding invalid answers, were analyzed. Convenience sampling was used from February 5, 2014 to March 5, 2014. The findings were: First, women and those having spouses with advanced educational backgrounds and social activities had primary solidarity such as contact solidarity, affectionate solidarity, functional solidarity (giving help), and functional solidarity (receiving help). In addition, those who had good health, from a subjective point of view, had more solidarity. Second, the elderly who were men and single, and who had poorer educational backgrounds thought of suicide, lacked social activities, and had poor health, from a subjective point of view. Third, family solidarity between old parents and adult children had significantly negative influence on the suicidal ideation of the elderly. Results - The study revealed the following implications. First, the preparation for old age should consider not only economic welfare but also the psychological welfare due to the relationship with children. Second, the phenomenon of elderly suicide because of a lack of family solidarity could increase national loss and have great influence upon welfare in old age. Therefore, planning of welfare services for the elderly should consider the value of relationships with children to improve the psychological welfare of the elderly. Third, the social expenses of government-oriented support for parents should be discussed from the people's point of view. Conclusions - The subjects of the study comprised the elderly at Seoul and Gyenggi-do; therefore, it would be difficult to extrapolate the findings to all the elderly in the nation. The subject visited senior welfare centers as well as halls for the elderly; therefore, it would be difficult to assume that the trends were representative of the elderly in the nation.
Abstract
Purpose - There have been local government systems since June 1955. Many local governments have made use of festivals for regional public relations and the achievement of competitiveness. This study analyzes effective components of local festivals. There has been extensive research in relation to variables such as participation motivation, satisfaction level, recall intention, royalty, and recommend purpose. However, as a variable factor, attachment to the participation motivation of a festival has been overlooked along with support level to a festival. This study has added new variables named "attachment to local society" and "support level," which are dependent variables. We will study the relationship of these two variables. Research design, data, and methodology - This study has devised a cause-and-effect relationship model, which deduces that local residents' participation motivation for the festival will have positive influence on the festival support level and satisfaction level. We circulated questionnaires to local residents to get the data required to prove the hypothesis. To analysis the data, we used SPSS 21.0, and accomplished basic analysis through the analysis of frequency as well as descriptive statistical analysis. Further, we verified our measurement tools through reliability analysis, and examined the research hypothesis through multiple regression analysis. Results - With regard to the festival satisfaction level, the variables of local society attachment, festival attraction, escaping from the daily life, and family harmony have influence upon a positive effect (+) in this order. Among them, the variable of local society attachment has the greatest influence. However, in respect of support level for the festival, only the variables of local society attachment and escaping from the daily life have a valid influence on the positive effect (+), and local society attachment has relatively greater influence. In addition, not only does the festival satisfaction level affect the support level for the festival in terms of positive effect, the influence is also far-reaching, which verifies the mediating effect. Conclusions - The result shows that the local residents' satisfaction level with the Yudalsan Mountain Spring Flower Festival is comparatively high, which is due to the local society attachment. It also shows that it is difficult to create support without local residents' attachment with their area. Consequently, this study insists that the Yudalsan Mountain Spring Flower Festival should exceed its limitation as just a village-level party, in order to become a remarkable and outstanding festival, and suggests three operational implications: macro-environmental development, task environment development, and internal operational environmental development. From the macro-environmental perspective, the constant development of local culture and local business is proposed. In the task environment perspective, a new functional development for the festival is proposed. From the internal operational environmental perspective, improvements in festival operation methods are proposed. If these weak points are addressed and resolved through a more detailed approach, it will be very helpful for local government systems to operate the festival.
Abstract
Purpose - Recently, the number of corporations that practice environmental and social responsibility, besides engaging in traditional profit-seeking activities, has been growing steadily, as interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is increasing. Recent research on CSR practices has identified the relationship between CSR activities and corporate value as one of the main issues in this respect. Considering that donations constitute a large proportion of a company's charitable activities, we considered the extent of donation expenses as a charitable activity in order to mitigate sample selection bias. Specifically, we analyzed the impact of donation expenses on firm value, while investigating if this impact varied in response to the level of corporate governance of firms. Research design, data, and methodology - We used non-financial firms listed on the Korean Stock Exchange, having their fiscal year end in December, and the sample period was 2006-2013. For the dependent variable, Tobin's q was used as the corporate value, and for the independent variable, donations were measured as the donation-expense-to-sales ratio. Corporate governance scores, as rated by the Korea Corporate Governance Service, were used to measure corporate governance levels because they consider the overall aspects of governance, including ownership structure, the board of directors, and the audit mechanism of individual companies. To examine the impact of donations on a company in relation to the level of corporate governance, we estimated regression models using the interaction terms of the governance dummy and donation variables. Then, we further estimated the regression models of two sub-samples that were classified according to the level of corporate governance. Similar to previous studies, the study uses variables that affect firm value, such as R&D expenditure, advertising expenses, EBITDA, debt-to-equity ratio, sales growth, company age, and company size as control variables. Results - The empirical results show that firm value significantly increased in response to an increase in donation expenses. Upon including the interaction terms of governance level dummy variables and donations, the coefficients of the interaction terms show significant positive values, while those of donation variables show significant negative values. In the strong governance sub-sample, the relationship between the donation expenses and corporate value was statistically positive (+) and significant. However, in the weak governance sub-sample, the relationship between the donation expenses and corporate value was statistically insignificant and negative (-). Conclusions - The empirical results suggest that donation expenses are significantly linked to an enhanced corporate value if firms have a good corporate governance structure. However, if the corporate governance structure is weak, the same relationship is not necessarily observed. The results of this study show that if a firm has high corporate governance, CSR practices enhance the company's reputation such that it has a positive (+) relationship with corporate value. If a firm has weak corporate governance, on the other hand, CSR practices are recognized as an agency cost and do not increase corporate value.
Abstract
Purpose - Recently, Korean companies have been struggling to perform well in the larger smartphone market in China, which is regarded as a blue ocean area. First, it is very important to accurately understand the Chinese consumers, who have a different consumption culture and value system from the Korean culture and system. This would help to identify priorities for the Chinese market. Further, considering the smartphone industry, where technological change is rapid, Korean companies will need to take prompt measures about market trends in order to establish strong competitiveness. Consequently, this study focused on analyzing the relationship between the variables of consumption value, satisfaction, and loyalty in the Chinese smartphone market. The principal dimensions of consumption value, which smartphones have, was analyzed, and the influence on satisfaction was identified. Moreover, the relationship among the variables of satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty, and behavioral loyalty was empirically analyzed. Research design, data, and methodology - This study examined the relationships between various consumption values (functional value, emotional value, social value, epistemic value, and economic value), along with satisfaction and loyalty. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey that was circulated to 310 customers who were users of smartphones in Chingdao and Yeontae regions in China. The survey was conducted from June 23 to August 4, 2013. A total of 301 responses to the questionnaires were collected and used for the data analysis. Moreover, a path analysis based on Lisrel 8.54 was used for the hypothesis test. Results - The variables of functional value, emotional value, social value, and epistemic value were revealed to have positive effects on satisfaction related to smartphone usage. However, the variables of monetary cost and psychological cost were not found to have negative effects on satisfaction related to smartphone usage. Moreover, satisfaction positively influenced attitudinal loyalty related to smartphone usage, but did not have a significant influence on behavioral loyalty related to smartphone usage. Specifically, satisfaction is essential, but not a sufficient condition for building behavioral loyalty in relation to smartphone usage. In addition, attitudinal loyalty positively influenced behavioral loyalty in relation to smartphone usage. Conclusions - First, this study shows that functional value, emotional value, social value, and epistemic value in relation to smartphone usage are important for marketing in the Chinese smartphone market. Particularly, functional value and emotional value play pre-eminent roles as regards customer loyalty in the use of smartphones. Second, the results of this study reveal that the variables of monetary cost and psychological cost are not important to the Chinese consumers. Specifically, the smartphone price and cognitive effort are not perceived as value barriers. Third, satisfaction did not guarantee behavioral loyalty in relation to smartphone usage, and the strategic approach for improving the repurchase and referral action in relation to smartphones based on solid attitudinal loyalty would be desirable and should be the focus of the marketing activities of Korean smartphone companies.