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This study examines whether the experience characteristics and startup type of middle-aged entrepreneurs are associated with differences in startup motivation, capabilities, and performance, reframing middle-aged entrepreneurs as experience-based innovators in the local startup ecosystem in the era of digital transformation. While Korea has entered a super-aged society and early retirement is accelerating, research and policy support for middle-aged entrepreneurs remain limited compared with those for younger founders. Drawing on human capital theory, the resource-based view, social capital theory, the technology acceptance model, and self-determination theory, the study operationalizes entrepreneur type (number of prior startups, years since current startup, government support experience) and startup type (technology-based, small business). Survey data from 130 Korean entrepreneurs aged 40 and older were analyzed by MANOVA to test 28 sub-hypotheses, focusing on group differences rather than causal effects. Six sub-hypotheses were supported at p<.05 and three were marginal at p<.10. Startup motivation showed no significant difference across any grouping factor, suggesting it is rooted in entry-stage need structures. Startup type differentiated all four capability dimensions, and new technology acceptance capability emerged as a key digital-era differentiator. Startup performance differed by time-accumulated variables such as the number of prior startups and years since the current startup, rather than by structural or support-based variables. The study reframes middle-aged entrepreneurship as innovation within the local startup ecosystem under digital transformation and highlights new technology acceptance capability as a distinct construct bridging IT-management and entrepreneurship research. As the design is cross-sectional and self-reported, findings are interpreted as group differences and associations, not causal effects.

This study analyzes how AI Transformation (AX) readiness influences employees’ AI use and perceived job performance in a Korean financial institution. By examining employees across affiliates, the research identifies structural relationships between AX readiness, AI usage, and performance. The model was validated to reveal the paths through which organizational readiness translates into individual results. Findings demonstrate that both leadership and technological readiness drive AI use, with infrastructure exhibiting a more dominant influence. AI usage serves as a vital mediator bridging organizational readiness and enhanced performance. Notably, the indirect impact on performance is more pronounced when driven by data and platform readiness. These results suggest that successful AX requires integrating robust technical investment with leadership-driven change management. By reconceptualizing AI readiness as a dual-structured "AX readiness," this study provides a theoretical framework for AI integration in large organizations.

The purpose of this study is to comprehensively examine research trends and the knowledge structure of intelligent decision support systems (IDSS) in supply chain management (SCM). So, the study did a review of all the journal articles published between 2015 and 2026. We found 255 of them in the SCOPUS database. The results are as follows. First, the IDSS academic domain in SCM has evolved around information systems and operations management journals, with research themes expanding from machine and statistical learning methodologies to emerging areas such as digital twins and generative artificial intelligence. Second, citation and co-authorship network analyses revealed that seminal papers and leading authors commonly apply IDSS to various SCM decision-making stages by integrating artificial intelligence techniques with traditional methods, indicating a prevailing hybrid approach in this field. Third, the keyword network analysis identified three thematic clusters constituting the academic landscape of this field: traditional analytical methodologies, sustainability-oriented applications, and newly emerging techniques. These results have significant implications for academics and practices striving to improve their understanding of the intellectual structure and practical relevance of IDSS in SCM.

As China rapidly enters an aged society, successful aging has become a critical issue for improving the quality of life of older adults. While previous studies have examined demographic, health, family, and socioeconomic factors, the role of digital engagement remains underexplored. This study investigates how internet use patterns are associated with successful aging among older adults in China. Using data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), this study analyzes 11,649 respondents aged 60 and above. Successful aging is measured through five criteria: absence of major disease, independence in activities of daily living, absence of depression, intact cognitive function, and social engagement. Machine learning models are used to identify key predictors, and K-Modes clustering classifies older internet users by frequency of use, digital proficiency, and online activity types. The results show that internet use is an important predictor of successful aging, but its effect depends on usage patterns. Daily use and higher digital proficiency are strongly associated with successful aging, whereas occasional use shows weaker outcomes. Among the four digital engagement profiles, “Elite Users,” characterized by frequent use, high proficiency, and active engagement in information-seeking and life/health-related online activities, exhibit the highest successful aging rate and are more likely to be depression-free and socially engaged. This study shifts the focus from simple digital access to effective digital engagement and suggests that digital inclusion policies should emphasize digital empowerment, skill development, and meaningful online use among older adults.

This study examined the structural relationships among the advertising model attributes of a virtual influencer and para-social relationships, advertising innovativeness, attitude toward the advertisement, and brand attitude, targeting active seniors. Using an SNS advertising post featuring Rozy as the stimulus, a survey was conducted with 353 active seniors aged 50 and over, and the data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and SmartPLS 3.0. The results showed that realism, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and curiosity had significant positive effects on para-social relationships, attitude toward the advertisement, and advertising innovativeness, whereas expertise had no significant effect. Para-social relationships and advertising innovativeness positively influenced attitude toward the advertisement and brand attitude, and attitude toward the advertisement exerted a strong effect on brand attitude. This study explains the advertising effectiveness of virtual influencers as an integrated process of relationship formation and the perception of advertising innovativeness, and offers implications for digital advertising strategies aimed at active seniors.

Corporate support for arts and culture has evolved from simple philanthropy to strategic sponsorship activities. This study examined the effects of sponsor factors (sponsor ubiquity, sponsor sincerity, and attitude toward the sponsor) on word-of-mouth intention through sponsor-event fit, sponsorship motives, and sponsorship image. The results showed that attitude toward the sponsor positively influenced sponsorship motives, sponsorship image, and sponsor-event fit, whereas sponsor ubiquity and sponsor sincerity primarily affected sponsor-event fit. Sponsor-event fit significantly influenced both sponsorship motives and sponsorship image, and both variables positively affected word-of-mouth intention. Although sponsor-event fit did not directly influence word-of-mouth intention, the findings suggest that sponsor factors indirectly affected word-of-mouth intention through the mediating roles of sponsor-event fit, sponsorship motives, and sponsorship image. These findings indicate that value-oriented sponsor-event matching and long-term sincerity are important factors in effective arts sponsorship and offer implications for sustainable partnerships between corporations and arts organizations.

This study questions the long-standing practice in technology opportunity (white space) research of treating an empty region of the technology space as an opportunity in itself, and redefines the meaning of opportunity from the perspective of resource-constrained small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study decomposes 14,626 granted Korean cosmetics patents (2005-2026) into a subgroup grid of ingredients (IPC A61K8) and functions (IPC A61Q), and compute for each cell its application density, applicant concentration (HHI), and SME share. The analysis finds no significant relationship between application density and SME share (Spearman rho = -0.04), but a clear negative relationship between applicant concentration and SME share (rho = -0.42). In a 2x2 analysis crossing density and concentration, cells that were dispersed at a given density level consistently exhibited a higher SME share than cells that were dominated. By function, incumbents dominated high-value, functional areas such as whitening, color cosmetics, and deodorants, whereas SMEs were positioned in general-purpose areas such as scalp care, cleansing, and hair care. These results suggest that what divides the position of SMEs in cosmetics is not whether a technology is empty, but whether incumbents have locked it down, that is, its contestability.

This study examines the effects of leader likability and empathy on employee performance, focusing on the moderating role of psychological safety. Drawing on social exchange theory, this research analyzes survey data from a pilot test of 130 temporary employees in their 20s. The empirical results indicate that both leader likability and empathy significantly enhance employee performance, and these positive relationships are further amplified when psychological safety is high. These findings highlight that a leader's interpersonal assets require a supportive organizational climate to effectively translate into actual productivity. Despite these insights, this study has methodological limitations, including a small sample size that limits generalization and a reliance on self-reported data that introduces the risk of common method bias. Future research should expand the sample size to compare different employment types and incorporate objective multi-source or supervisor-rated performance metrics to enhance data objectivity.

This study examines the formal operations of cinematic color in Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later (2025) and Derek Jarman’s Blue (1993). The two films differ substantially in genre, media configuration, and audiovisual organization. Their differences make color visible as a decisive element in the formation of cinematic meaning and sensory order. 28 Years Later uses layered chromatic arrangements across a post-apocalyptic narrative, organizing survival, infection, the body, nature, and community as interrelated conditions. Blue sets a single field of blue against a layered soundscape, where color becomes linked to sensation, memory, illness, and time. The two films provide a productive basis for comparison. Each places color under a distinct formal regime. In 28 Years Later, chromatic variation establishes the rules of a devastated world. In Blue, the sustained duration of one color intensifies the limits and possibilities of color as a concept. This article develops a cross-analysis of the two films around four related dimensions. These dimensions concern the arrangement of a cinematic world, the modulation of affect, the formation of chromatic relations, and the sensory grammar produced through color, sound, body, and media conditions. The analysis demonstrates that color in these films exceeds visual ornament and fixed symbolic coding. It functions as a rule-governed formal system, producing meaning through relations among image, sound, body, space, perception, and memory. Wittgenstein’s Remarks on Colour provides a productive conceptual framework for film-color studies, in which color is understood as a formal device that organizes cinematic structure and sensory order. 28 Years Later and Blue materialize this possibility in distinct yet comparable ways.