Browsing by Author "Sung, Eunyoung (Christine)"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

Augmented digital human vs. human agents in storytelling marketing: Exploratory electroencephalography and experimental studies
(Wiley, 2023-09) Sung, Eunyoung (Christine); Han, Dai‐In Danny; Choi, Yung Kyun; Gillespie, Brian; Couperus, Anja; Koppert, Marc
As the fourth industrial revolution unfolds and the use of digital humans becomes more commonplace, understanding digital humans' potential to replace real human interaction or enhance it, particularly in storytelling marketing contexts, is becoming evermore important. To promote interaction and increase the entertainment value of technology-enhanced storytelling marketing, brands have begun to explore the use of augmented digital humans as storytelling agents. In this article, we examine the effectiveness of leveraging advanced technologies and delivering messages via digital humans in storytelling advertisements. In Study 1, we investigate the effectiveness of narrative transportation on behavioral responses after exposure to an interactive augmented reality mobile advertisement with a digital human storyteller. In Study 2, we compare how consumers respond to augmented digital human versus real human storytelling advertisements after conducting an exploratory neurophysiological electroencephalography study. The findings show that both types of agents promote narrative transportation when the story fits the product well. Moreover, a digital human perceived as more human-like elicits stronger positive consumer responses, suggesting an effective new approach to storytelling marketing.
Consumer‐based brand equity: Comparisons among Americans and South Koreans in the USA and South Koreans in Korea
(2008-02) Jung, Jaehee; Sung, Eunyoung (Christine)
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to measure and compare the consumer‐based brand equity of apparel products by three consumer groups across cultures – Americans in the USA, South Koreans in the USA, and South Koreans in Korea. Also examined was cross‐cultural effects of brand equity on purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 300 college students were recruited for the survey from local universities and organizations in the USA and South Korea. The MBE and OBE models were used to measure brand equity of the three apparel brands (i.e. Polo, Gap, and Levi's). Findings – Among the elements of brand equity, the perceived brand quality and brand awareness/association reported by American college students were significantly greater than those reported by South Koreans in the USA and Korea. For both South Korean groups, brand loyalty was the most important element of brand equity. In the relationship between elements of brand equity and purchase intention, brand loyalty showed positive correlation with purchase intention across all three consumer groups. Research limitations/implications – Further research might include more apparel brands in different price points. An investigation of the prices of various apparel brands in different countries will be useful for cross‐cultural comparisons. Originality/value – With a lack of brand equity studies on fashion products and even fewer studies of cross‐cultural comparisons in brand equity, this study should be valuable information for firms branding their products and making marketing strategies from the global perspective.
Department vs discount retail store patronage: effects of self-image congruence
(2018-05) Sung, Eunyoung (Christine); Huddleston, Patricia
Purpose This paper explores the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ need for self-image congruence on their retail patronage of department (high-end) and discount (low-end) stores to purchase name-brand products in two product categories, apparel and home décor. It also compared online to offline shopping and considered two mediator variables, frugality and materialism. Design/methodology/approach The paper analyzed the hypothesized relationships using structural equation modeling (SEM) and MANOVA. Study 1 suggested the model using secondary data, and Study 2 measured and confirmed the relationships using scenario-based online survey data. An MANOVA test was used to compare the shopping behavior of consumers with high and low need for self-image congruence. Findings A strong causal link was found between concern with appearance and need for self-image congruence, and a positive relationship between need for self-image congruence and high- and low-end retail store patronage offline and online. While the group with high (vs low) need for self-image congruence was more likely to patronize department stores, unexpectedly, both the high and low self-image congruence groups were equally likely to shop at discount stores. Practical implications The findings suggest that marketing messages focusing on concern for appearance may succeed by tapping into consumers’ need for self-image congruence with brand product/retail store images. Results also showed that consumers with high self-image congruence often patronize discount retail stores, suggesting marketing opportunities for low-end retailers. Originality/value Because consumers with high need for self-image congruence patronize both department and discount stores, it is suggested that self-image congruity may be multi-dimensional. The current study is also the first to examine structural relationships to test patronage behavior between department and discount stores offline and online.
Department vs. Discount Store Patronage: Effects of Self-image Congruence
(2018-05) Sung, Eunyoung (Christine); Huddleston, Patricia
Purpose This paper explores the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ need for self-image congruence on their retail patronage of department (high-end) and discount (low-end) stores to purchase name-brand products in two product categories, apparel and home décor. It also compared online to offline shopping and considered two mediator variables, frugality and materialism. Design/methodology/approach The paper analyzed the hypothesized relationships using structural equation modeling (SEM) and MANOVA. Study 1 suggested the model using secondary data, and Study 2 measured and confirmed the relationships using scenario-based online survey data. An MANOVA test was used to compare the shopping behavior of consumers with high and low need for self-image congruence. Findings A strong causal link was found between concern with appearance and need for self-image congruence, and a positive relationship between need for self-image congruence and high- and low-end retail store patronage offline and online. While the group with high (vs low) need for self-image congruence was more likely to patronize department stores, unexpectedly, both the high and low self-image congruence groups were equally likely to shop at discount stores. Practical implications The findings suggest that marketing messages focusing on concern for appearance may succeed by tapping into consumers’ need for self-image congruence with brand product/retail store images. Results also showed that consumers with high self-image congruence often patronize discount retail stores, suggesting marketing opportunities for low-end retailers. Originality/value Because consumers with high need for self-image congruence patronize both department and discount stores, it is suggested that self-image congruity may be multi-dimensional. The current study is also the first to examine structural relationships to test patronage behavior between department and discount stores offline and online.
International expansion of retailers: the role of technical expertise, alliances and allocation of resources in economic crises
(2019-05) Sung, Eunyoung (Christine); Goebel, Tai
Economic downturns are often viewed as threats to prosperity and the challenges they can pose for international retailers are well documented. However, the potential opportunities of economic downturns are less well understood. In this paper, we ask whether or how these environments might actually afford occasions for strategic market adjustment, in the form of international expansion to new markets. Specifically, drawing on resource-based theory and game theory, we consider how a firm\'s financial performance during international expansion in a downturn may be predicted by its engagement in three modes of knowledge transfer. We consider knowledge transfer enabled by: 1) long-term investment in technical expertise; 2) formation of alliances in the local target market; 3) focused allocation of firm resources. Based on cases from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the 2007 US recession and the 2009 European Sovereign Debt Crisis, we developed propositions to guide future research on international expansion during economic downturns.
Motivators of Prestige Brand Purchase: Testing Cultural (In)stability of Measures Over Time Across the United States, Poland, and South Korea
(2019) Sung, Eunyoung (Christine); Calantone, R.; Huddleston, Patricia
This paper encompasses two studies of how cultural dimensions help us understand consumers’ motivations to buy prestige brands in the global market. In Study 1, we investigated the effects of social interaction factors on prestige brand purchase in the U.S., Poland, and South Korea. The study model was conceptualized using individualism as a cultural characteristic, drawn from Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory. Consumers from these three countries represented high, medium, and low levels of individualism (N=1816). Two data analysis procedures were conducted. After strict measurement equivalence tests, we tested our SEM and confirmed that public self-image mediates the relationship between social belonging and prestige brand purchase preference. For two countries, we found differences in social belonging effect, such that consumers with low social belonging were more likely to show high prestige brand purchase behavior. In Study 2, we tested cultural (in)stability of measures (motivators) over time using two data sets (total N= 3,622). Of these countries, we found that only South Korea has shifted its values over time and demonstrated intergenerational differences in prestige brand purchase preference.
NFT luxury brand marketing in the metaverse: Leveraging blockchain‐certified NFTs to drive consumer behavior
(Wiley, 2023-06) Sung, Eunyoung (Christine); Kwon, Ohbyung; Sohn, Kwonsang
Industry 4.0 technology enables luxury fashion brands in the virtual market to quantify the value of digital items in the metaverse; thus, brands can maintain their reputations, ensure consistent and integrated luxury brand marketing, and attract new consumers in the virtual market. Understanding consumer behavior toward buying digital assets (i.e., nonfungible tokens [NFTs]) is important. By using blockchain-based NFTs as a way to verify the authenticity of digital assets in the virtual market, luxury brands can maintain their reputations and help consumers protect their digital assets. Thus, developing global marketing strategies supported by this technology is important for the success of luxury fashion brands in the metaverse. We conducted analyses to explore consumer behavior in the metaverse with regard to blockchain-based luxury NFTs. The findings reveal the psychological evaluation process as a mechanism that drives consumer behavior toward NFT luxury brand fashion items in global virtual markets. The empirical findings also extend the application of game theory and prospect theory by revealing the psychological evaluation of risks associated with (not) buying luxury fashion NFTs as another mechanism driving consumer behavior in the metaverse.
Twenty Years after Reunification: Comparing Young Consumer Decision-Making Processes for Electronic Products in the Former East and West Germany
(2011-07) Sung, Eunyoung (Christine); Huddleston, Patricia; Uhrich, Sebastian
This article measures and compares influences on purchasing decisions for electronic products among consumers from the former East and West German states. The study is framed using Cohort Theory. To investigate whether changes in the economic system influences consumer behavior, two consumer groups are included: Germans in the former East Germany and former West Germany. The study found that the former West Germans are more likely to be influenced by the opinions of others than East Germans. Brand loyalty is influential for both of the two German groups. In addition, the two German groups had more similar attitudes toward advertising compared to their parents' cohort groups of 20 years ago. The study also found that Inglehart's Cohort Theory applies to the case of German reunification.