Ongoing Projects

Researcher: Jeong-Eun Kim
Currently, the global warming issue is one of the most notable issues in the international community. However, compared to the increased awareness of the urgency and severity of global warming, the general public's response to global warming is still insufficient. Effective mitigation of climate change requires not only policy regulations and corporate participation but also individual actions in daily life.　In this context, we would like to explore the factors that affect practical actions to respond to global warming in the face of a climate change crisis. Particularly, attention is given to the concept of online activism, considering the communication behaviors of the public that widely utilize digital communication technologies. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of situational awareness and environmental guilt on carbon reduction behavior through online activism. Through this, practical and empirical insights will be provided in seeking behavioral countermeasures to solve the global warming problem.

Researcher: Yushu Sun
Recently, youth mental health issues have received a lot of media coverage, and the mental health of the younger generation is getting worse. However, there is a lack of social awareness of youth mental health, and young people themselves still lack interest in their own mental health. By examining the factors of occupational, social, and personal factors, we will propose a public communication plan to mitigate the mental health problems of the younger generation and raise social awareness.

Researcher: Xiangbo Ding
For the promotion of soft power and the expansion of culture's influence, authorities are increasingly utilizing digital communication platforms today. As essential vehicles, Chinese pastoral videos(CPVs) play a significant role in this process. Therefore, it is essential to determine how the characteristics of CPVs influence the viewers’ behavioral intention. Specifically, this study investigated the direct effect of the characteristics of CVP influencers and attributes of CPVs content on respondents' intentions (travel/word-of-mouth intention). In addition, the indirect effects mechanism of PSI (cognitive/behavioral) between CPVs and the respondents' intentions was respectively investigated.

Understanding factors influencing people’s pro-environmental behavior: Based on OSROR model

Researcher: Xiangbo Ding
In this contemporary society, with the active development of media platforms, the general public can easily receive information such as news and reports on environmental issues through various media. It can be assumed that exposure to information about environmental issues through the media has significant impact on pro-environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behaviors. However, it is argued that this oversimplifies the process by which media effects occur. Therefore, based on the O-S-R-O-R communication mediation model, which systematically presents the mediation process of information processing, this study aims to examine the process by which the public's exposure to information on environmental issues through mass media and the Internet affects their pro-environmental behavioral intention (e.g., practice/purchase). Specifically, this study aims to explore the mediating effects of interpersonal communication (social factor) and perceived risk about environmental crisis(cognitive factors) on this information processing process.

Researcher: Xiangbo Ding
With the advancement of information and communication technology (ICT), healthcare wearable devices (HWDs) have become increasingly popular, with widespread acceptance around the world. Although older adults are not core consumers of HWDs, their demand for using HWDs is increasing with the expanding technological capabilities of HWDs. Therefore, this study aims to investigate factors influencing intention to accept HWDs, especially, among older adults. this study aims to provide insights for developing an extended UTAUT model and contribute to the literature for further research on health-related technology acceptance. Additionally, this study also assists practitioners in understanding the factors influencing the acceptance of HWDs in the older adult context and offers insights into the development of HWDs when promoting HWDs tailored to a target consumer group, especially older adults.

Researcher: Xiangbo Ding
In order to improve environmental sustainability and solve environmental problems, it is essential to change individual pro-environmental behavior. In order to change human pro-environmental behavior, it is very important to understand the determinants of pro-environmental behavior (Klöckner, 2013). Although many models and theories have been applied, the most influential and widely applied theory in predicting and explaining pro-environmental behavior in the field of environmental behavior research is the theory of planned behavior. To date, the number of studies on pro-environmental behavior behavior based on TPB in Korea has been continuously increasing, and pro-environmental behavior has been widely studied in various fields of research. However, after examining the previous studies that explored pro-environmental behavior by applying TPB in Korea, it was found that the results of empirical studies on pro-environmental behavior using TPB as a theoretical basis are inconsistent. Therefore, this study aims to synthesize and analyze the inconsistent results of previous studies on pro-environmental behavior using TPB in Korea through meta-analysis and provide a systematic and overview analysis of the influence of TPB theory components in studying pro-environmental behavior.