(The) impact of Hallyu culture on the national brand of Korea : with emphasis on brand personalities, consumers' motivations and their loyalty

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study seeks to illuminate the nature of the expansion of Hallyu by expanding the pool of research subjects more globally, into North and South America, Europe, Central Asia, Africa and Oceania, in an attempt to seek the limitations of previous research that was limited to the Asian region, even as Korean culture expands globally. 2,776 people from 24 countries were respondents to the survey in this study, and of those, 2,513 were used as a sample for analysis. The survey was conducted under coordination with Korean Culture Centers, Korea Tourism Office branches and other organizations, ensuring the credibility of realistic analysis.
This research researched the consumption motive and preference on the 4 types of contents that are subjects of Hallyu culture index calculation. Further, in order to holistically verify the influence of each content preference on national brand, the research spectrum was expanded. Thus, an integrated research model was created that connects communication theory on motivation and marketing brand theory. The positive analysis of the overarching hypothesis done under this said model confirmed that Hallyu has formed “sophistication” and “attractiveness”, two national brand personalities. Furthermore, it was proven that the said brand personalities significantly influence national brand loyalty and as a result, expansion of national brand loyalty. From this, the result of proving that Hallyu has contributed significantly to a national brand, previously not based on positive analysis, was obtained. This confirmed that Hallyu is an axis of national development momentum that drives the national brand asset value and Korean goods exports.
This research, unlike previous research that was limited to national image and attitude by existing consumers, analyzed the Hallyu acceptance traits by population-statistical traits through positive analysis. Another meaningful result was in proving that the five research hypotheses were proven to show, through statistical verification, that all had positive effects on national brand loyalty.
The results of certifying the experiential hypothesis of this study are summarized as follows.
The certification of the first hypothesis (H1), which is “significant differences will be found among the preferences across every type of motives to consume Hallyu culture contents”, shows statistically significant differences on the four motives (active, simple curiosity, pleasure oriented, and relationship oriented). Therefore, Hallyu contents must seek market segmentation based on the motive, and an appropriate expansion strategy adapted to local motives must be considered.
The second hypothesis (H2), which is “preferences toward Hallyu culture content will have significant impact on national brand personality”, has been confirmed that the preferences on the four types of Hallyu culture all positively affect sophistication and attractiveness of the national brand. Therefore, strategies to enhance the national brand must be established using the analysis result which state that Hallyu contents play significant roles on establishing the national brand.
The third hypothesis (H3), which is “national brand personality will have a significant effect on national brand loyalty”, shows that attractiveness has the most convincing positive impact on loyalty, followed by sophistication. A national brand enhancement strategy must be implemented using the attractiveness factors in the content creation, export, and promotion of Hallyu.
The fourth hypothesis (H4), which is “national brand personality will have a significant effect on expansion of national brand loyalty”, shows that the foreign consumers’ perceptions of the national brand personality of Korea are positively interconnected with the national brand loyalty.
The fifth hypothesis (H5), which is “national brand loyalty will have a significant effect on expansion of national brand loyalty”, indicates that the perceived national brand loyalty does positively impact on the expansion of national brand loyalty.
The theoretical significance of this study is summarized as follows. First, this study enhances the possibility of generalizing an integrated analysis model. It overcomes the limitations of previous research that focused only on East Asia, selecting 24 countries as subjects. The expanded integrated research enhances the possibility of generalizing the analysis model, and derives policy observations through comparison by continents.
Second, this study provides an analysis model to prove the recipient’s psychological state through using the motivation and national brand concepts. Motivation, national brand personality, and national brand loyalty are shown that they are all important factors in forming the model. A quantitative and systematic proof of the psychological processes of a foreigner’s acceptance and desire of Korean culture has been demonstrated.
Third, this study shows that the Hallyu consumers’ ecosystem, through a global research that is based on key Hallyu contents, is reflected on the composition of the Hallyu Index by MCST.
Fourth, this study shows that in the future, segmenting the Hallyu contents market would be possible through analyzing this data regarding the influence of the relationships between motive type, national brand personality, and national brand loyalty. Then, this can form the basis for establishing a strategy for Hallyu expansion.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. Introduction 1
• 1.1 Background 1
• 1.2 Research Objectives 4
• 1.3 Methodology 7
• 1.4 Structure of the Thesis 8
• Ⅱ. Theoretical Background 11
• 2.1 The Nature of Hallyu Culture and Its Value 11
• 2.1.1 The Viewpoint on Hallyu Culture 11
• 2.1.2 Hallyu and National Brand Power 17
• 2.1.3 National Brand and Hallyu’s Halo Effect 22
• 2.2 The Essence and Status of Hallyu Cultural Contents 26
• 2.2.1 The Concept of Hallyu Cultural Contents 26
• 2.2.2 The Status of Hallyu Cultural Contents Industry 28
• 2.3 Hallyu Cultural Contents Consumption Motive 34
• 2.3.1 The Concept of Hallyu Cultural Contents Consumption Motive 34
• 2.3.2 Factors of Hallyu Cultural Contents 35
• 2.4 Hallyu Cultural Contents Preference 38
• 2.5 National Brand Personality 39
• 2.5.1 The Concept of National Brand Personality 39
• 2.5.2 Factors of National Brand Personality 40
• 2.6 National Brand Loyalty 43
• 2.6.1 The Concept of National Brand Loyalty 43
• 2.6.2. Measurement Factor of National Brand Loyalty 45
• 2.7 Expansion of National Brand Loyalty 48
• Ⅲ. Previous Research, Integrated Research Model and Design 50
• 3.1 Review of the Previous Research 50
• 3.1.1 The Study on Hallyu Cultural Contents Consumption Motive Type and Preference 50
• 3.1.2 The Study on National Brand Personality 51
• 3.1.3 The Study on National Brand Loyalty 52
• 3.1.4 The Study on the Expansion of National Brand Loyalty 53
• 3.1.5 The Limitations of Preceding Studies and the Direction of Research 54
• 3.2 Integrated Research Model and Hypothesis 56
• 3.2.1 Integrated Research Model 56
• 3.2.2 Hypothesis Test Setting 59
• 3.3 Research Design and Analysis Method 60
• 3.3.1 Operational Definition of Variables 60
• 3.3.2 Organization of Survey 61
• 3.3.3 Data Collection 64
• 3.3.4 Analysis Method 67
• Ⅳ. An Empirical Study on Korean Cultural Contents, National Brand Personality and National Brand Loyalty 69
• 4.1 Types of Consuming Korean Culture 69
• 4.1.1 General Information about the Sample 69
• 4.1.2 Analysis on Hallyu Culture Consumption type 75
• 4.2 Preliminary Analysis 78
• 4.2.1 Exploratory Factor Analysis and Reliability Analysis on the Motives for Hallyu Cultural Contents Consumption 78
• 4.2.2. Cluster Analysis on the Types of Hallyu Cultural Contents Consumption Motives 81
• 4.2.3 Demographical Characteristics of Each Cluster by Hallyu Cultural Contents Consumption Motives 84
• 4.2.4 Characteristics of Each Hallyu Cultural Contents Consumption Type by Motives 96
• 4.2.5 Exploratory Factor Analysis and Reliability Analysis on Preference for Hallyu Cultural Contents 101
• 4.2.6 Exploratory Factor Analysis and Reliability Analysis on National Brand Personality 103
• 4.2.7 Exploratory Factor Analysis and Reliability Analysis on National Brand Loyalty 105
• 4.3 Comparison of Preferences by Hallyu Cultural Contents Consumption Motive 107
• 4.4 Comparison of Hallyu Cultural Contents Consumption Motives 109
• 4.4.1 Nationality-wise Comparison 109
• 4.4.2 Continental-wise Comparison 115
• 4.5 Comparison of Preference for Type of Hallyu Cultural Contents 118
• 4.5.1 Nationality-wise Comparison 118
• 4.5.2 Continent-wise Comparison 123
• 4.6 Test of the Relation between Preferences for Hallyu Cultural Contents and National Brand Personality 126
• 4.7 Test of the Relationship between National Brand Personality and Nation Brand Loyalty 129
• 4.8 Test of the Relationship between National Brand Personality and Expansion of Nation Brand Loyalty 130
• 4.9 Test of the Relationship between National Brand Loyalty and Expansion of National Brand Loyalty 132
• 4.10 Hallyu’s Contributions to National Brand Enhancement – Cause and Effect Relationship 133
• 4.11 Results and its Interpretation 134
• Ⅴ. Conclusion and Implications 142
• 5.1 Research Conclusion 142
• 5.2 Policy Implications 145
• 5.3 Future Research Direction 148
• Bibliography 150
• Appendices 172
• 국문요약 252