12 | INNOVISION MAGAZINE During the interview, Dr. Kim walked me through prior research on the impact of website design and useability on consumer behaviors and how they navigate websites to purchase tickets. This research discovered that consumers engage first with an image, then the caption, and then with the content. In contrast, Dr. Kim explained that “sports fans are different” than the average consumer. Sports fans notice their team’s logo first, then the image, and then engage with the content. “We didn’t know this,” Dr. Kim said energetically. A consumer doesn’t really know where they are looking necessarily or what their behavior is, but through this technology, we can see and observe,” Dr. Kim unfolded. Walking down the hallway—composed of wooden trimmings, a wooden floor that causes your footsteps to echo, and tall ceilings—in Old Main’s mysterious added wing, I look for Dr. Yongjae Kim’s office. The door is open when I reach it, and he is sitting relaxed at a wooden desk surrounded by shelves and cabinets that match the same dark wood of the hallway. Light pours in through a window behind him bringing added warmth to the furnishings and the room. Dr. Kim, with a gentle voice, exchanges introductions and offers me a seat. “Congratulations on receiving the Chambliss Award,” I offer. KU’s Chambliss Faculty Research Award represents the “highest achievement in research and scholarship that can only be awarded once within a person's career.” Dr. Kim smiles humbly and nods a thanks but waits to respond. “Did you know you would be receiving the Chambliss Award?” I continue. “No one knows,” he responds, shaking his head with a broadening smile. Dr. Kim gives the impression that he takes acknowledgments in stride focusing more on his passion for research and the pursuit of “new knowledge” than on the awards bestowed. A Professor of Sport Management, Dr. Kim is also the Founder and Executive Director of the KU Sport Business Institute (KUSBI). For the Institute, and greater KU community, he procured a PASSHE grant to fund Neuro-marketing technology. The Neuro-marketing technology, with eye and expression trackers, displays where a consumer's primary and secondary focuses are when engaging with media content. Dr. Kim explained that “with survey research, the results can become very biased, however, if we are using objective methods (like the Neuro-marketing technology) to observe consumer behavior, it is less likely to become biased.” This new technology has been the tool for much of Dr. Kim’s current research. Dr. Kim’s recent research focuses on “identifying the factors influencing consumer behavior,” and has uncovered some interesting dynamics. PROFESSOR NEWS CHAMBLISS AWARD DR. YONGJAE KIM
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