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IThis study aims to investigate the effects of the consumption motivations of restaurant customers on their perception of the importance of experiential and functional restaurant attributes.

A total of 330 questionnaires were issued in China (168) and Korea (162). The resulting data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 to verify the reliability and validity of the measured variables. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses of the study.

The results showed that customers with hedonic consumption motivation were more sensitive to the experiential attributes than to the functional attributes of a restaurant. In addition, those customers with utilitarian consumption motivation were more influenced by functional attributes than by experiential attributes. However, these relationships differed between China and Korea. In China, the consumers’ hedonic motivation had a stronger relationship with functional restaurant attributes, which reflects a culture that emphasizes pragmatism.

This study analyzed the relationship between the motives to eat at a restaurant and the evaluation of restaurant attributes and how this differed between China and Korea, while suggesting practical implications.

This study aims to empirically test a theoretical model by defining customers’ intention to use services of restaurant robots, which are rapidly developing in Korea. The proposed model incorporates three stages: coolness, motivated consumer innovativeness (MCI) and the theory of planned behaviour.

A total of 420 questionnaires were issued. The results were analysed to verify the reliability and validity of the measured variables. Structural equation modelling was used to test the research hypotheses.

The results showed that hedonically motivated consumer innovativeness (hMCI) and socially motivated consumer innovativeness (sMCI) have positive effects on attitude and are enhanced by attractiveness, utility, subcultural appeal and originality. However, the relationship between MCI and attitude differed among age groups.

The results revealed that sensory elements of robot services improve customer attitudes towards the use of robots in restaurants. This is a key finding that restaurant marketers should consider, because non-face-to-face services are becoming increasingly important in the current COVID-19 context.

This study analysed the relationship between coolness, MCI and the theory of planned behaviour in the context of robot-serviced restaurants and how the relationship between MCIs and attitude differed among the young and older customers. Practical implications are suggested.

The Hanbo (meaning Korean treasure) scandal or “Hanbogate” occurred on January 23, 1997, with the bankruptcy of Hanbo Iron and Steel Company, the second largest steel company and 14th largest conglomerate in South Korea, as its debt had accumulated to US$5.6 billion. Hanbo's bankruptcy triggered an investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office that resulted in the imprisonment for 15 years of Hanbo's founder, Chung Tae-Soo, for bribing politicians and bankers to pressure banks to extend hugh bank loans to Hanbo. Nine other persons were also convicted including Chung's son, who was jailed for three years for bribery and embezzlement, and Kim Hyun-Chol, the second son of President Kim Young-Sam, who was sentenced to three years jail and fined US$1.5 million (New York Times, 1997).

This paper aims to evaluate the effect of optimal use of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems on improving the loss of life (LOL) of distribution transformers, reducing power losses as well as the unbalance rate of the 69-bus distribution network.

The problem is studied in three scenarios, considering different objective functions as multi-objective optimization in balanced and unbalanced operations. Meta-heuristic golden ratio optimization method (GROM) is used to determine the optimal size of the rooftop PV in the network.

The simulation results show that in all scenarios, the GROM by optimally installing the rooftop PV is significantly capable to reduce the transformer distribution loss of loss, unbalance rate and power loss as well as reduce the temperature of the oil and transformer winding. Also, the lowest %LOL, power loss and unbalance rate occurred in the second scenario for the balanced network and first scenario, respectively. In addition, the results showed that the unbalance of the network results in increased power losses and LOL of the distribution transformer.

The better capability of GROM is proved compared with the grey wolf optimization algorithm with better objective function and by achieving better values of LOL, unbalance rate and power loss. The results also showed that the %LOL, unbalance and power losses are weakened compared to without considering the PV cost but the achieved results are realistic and cost-effective.