Jae Heon Lee, Jae Won Choi, Ki Youn Kim, Journal of Internet Computing and Services, Vol. 16, No. 6, pp. 109-122, Dec. 2015
10.7472/jksii.2015.16.6.109, Full Text:
Keywords: Sharing Economy, Subjectivity Study, Millennial Generation, Social Network, Psychographic segmentation, Q Methodology

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore consumer behavioral trends, psychological characteristics and various cognitive types of Millennial Generation consumers, primarily in their 20s, who are familiar with sharing economy services based on the emerging social networking technology. Using Q methodology, this paper theoretically defines four and interprets via a social science perspective four different types of these young consumers who are skilled at state-of-the-art ICT equipment, devices or online networking services. Sharing economy services in Korea's academic and industrial services are influenced by government policy, and related research is relatively new. This study is focused on discovering unique psychographic characteristics called 'schemata' that include personal interest, preference, attitude, and opinion. On the basis of 40 Q-sorted data samples, the analysis examined 180 collected statements from meta-studies and interviews with 35 individuals born between 1997 and 1992. As a result, four consumer groups were identifies: Type 1 'Early majority', Type 2 'Laggard', Type 3 'Opinion leader', and Type 4 'Late majority'. The results of this research can be used to explore to study in greater detail the behavior and psychological aspects of Millennial General consumers'.

Statistics
Cite this article