All aspects of individual consumer as well as situational affecting on decisions are influenced by the social and cultural structure in which the consumer is embedded. Recently, there has been a growing worldwide phenomenon whereby tourists visit an attraction or destination as a result of that place being portrayed or represented in the popular cultural forms of the media that are not directly related with tourism promotion or marketing. A number of studies have suggested that such portrayals and features of mass media can act as powerful forces that stimulate tourism demand (Beeton, 2001). Representations and images of tourist destinations constructed by popular cultural forms of media such as films, television and literature play a significant role in influencing people’s holiday decision-making process (Iwashita, 2006). Where trade in images, expectations, dreams, and fantasies are made in tourism (Selwyn, 1996), those media representations and images of tourist destinations play a significant role in influencing people’s decision-making process. The tourism industry also is increasing appliance of images that are drawn from popular culture associated with places to promote tourist destinations and to distinguish themselves from each other. While these researches contribute to the understanding of the influence of pop culture on tourism phenomena, only few studies have investigated on the actual linkage between the pop culture and tourism perceptions/behaviors. The reason why pop culture involvement can be related to the actual intention to visit is due to the fandom created relating to the pop culture. The notion of fandom has been put forward in order to understand the link in between the pop culture and the mass audience in diverse realms (Couldry, 2007). Fandom in recent years have been understood to dismiss the negative view of pathological and the stem for alienating qualities of modern society, and accepted as a phenomena widely spread in post-industrial societies (Jenson, 1992). It is then when transitional moment takes place, in the head and heart of the fan or tourist, that the fascination begins which provides the motivation to visit the locations (Reijnders, 2011). With such cultural industries in modern society constantly produce countless contents that can be utilized as objects of fandom, resulting in actual visit to a place associated with a specific destination serving as an effective strategy for building popular cultural capital in modern society. It was therefore decided to investigate this phenomenon in more depth through empirical research to investigate how and to what extent popular cultural forms of the media (those not directly associated with tourism and destination marketing) have an effect on international tourism, and future, to identify what roles they play in influencing tourists from emerging market in terms of their travel destination image and their perception about places to visit within the chosen destination. The phenomenon in this study focuses on the Korean wave, so called Hallyu, as it is one of the pop culture phenomenon that has gained much recognition across not only within Asian countries but also recently in Western countries via pop songs, soap operas, movies, and other forms of mass media entertainment. In this study, diffusion model suggested by Rogers (1995) was used. The diffusion of Rogers’s innovation framework is proving flexible enough to conceptualize many kinds of social change, including change through processes of public dialogue and civic participation, change within organizations, as well as change through public agenda setting and media effects. Many studies have incorporated diffusion theory to explain such cultural phenomenon to gain more enrich result, however, no other studies have looked into the degree of diffusion stage in a macro level according to the regions. However, to obtain the overall view of the diffusion of such pop culture, it is needed to see the diffusion process proceeding globally as even the same fandom may differ in characteristics based on not only the diffusion stage but also its distinctive characteristics of social system. As a result, according to the diffusion stage of Hallyu, it is expected to differ in formation and perception on destination image. Previous studies identify destination image into cognition and affect which are two conceptually different, yet highly correlated components (Lee, 2008). The cognitive component leading to some internally accepted attributes, a more or less derived from factual information. On the other hand, the affective component relates to a diffusive feeling, which can become important when a decision to travel is actually considered (Russel, 1980). Such image constructed by tourists contains an individual or group perception of a particular place (Fakeye and Crompton 1991). It is expected that the image construction will vary according to the stage of the diffusion. This study incorporates diffusion theory to develop a better understanding of the diffusion process and the current situation of the Korean Wave globally to see whether such diffusion process varies according to region. Then, the effect of such difference in diffusion stages on the intention to visit the destination country was investigated. Thus, preliminary research was conducted first to see the Korean Wave phenomenon globally. In order to analyze the diffusion stage thoroughly, three regions of Asia, America, and Europe were selected. According to the diffusion degree of the Korean wave, seven representative countries were elected regarded to the regions. Along with literatures, in-depth interviews were conducted. The semi-structured form with an interview guide method was presented with reflexive interviewing techniques in order to ensure comprehensiveness (Athos & Gabarro, 1978). Then, a survey was conducted to examine the effect of pop culture involvement on formation and perception of destination image in China and Russia. Choice of countries is not only resulting from recognition as the potential future powerhouse in industry, but because it is the two countries take place as one of the highest increase in the number of tourists visiting Korea recently (KCTI, 2013). In addition, most importantly, China represents to be in the highest stage of diffusion of Korean pop culture, and Russia as one of the lowest. Additionally, the moderating effect of travel intention and travel behavior was preceded. From this, it aims to provide deeper understanding implications for targeting tourists. The hypotheses were tested with a data set developed from field survey using only online survey. Of the 265 samples collected, 8 were returned incomplete. An additional 18 samples were deleted for further analysis, as the answers were unusable. In total 239 samples – 120 and 119 samples from China and Russia respectively – were subjected for final analysis. The result in Study 1 revealed some commonalities and differences among regions. Overall, uniqueness was what made people first be interested. It was mostly pursued by young women yet those who are sometimes extremist. Thus, being open-minded to other cultures was found to be important when accepting other cultures. Moreover, it revealed that it impacts on national image to be more positive as it replaces the negative image related to war and North Korea. However, despite some commonalities, distinctive differences were disclosed among regions, especially between Asian countries and Western countries. In terms of Asia, it was found that cultural similarities have influenced the early acceptance of Korean pop culture. It has been spread since 1997, through television mostly with sensuous contents that were unique in other countries. The contents were mostly appealing to women as the characters shown in soap opera were different to others. This is very different to Europe of America where the diffusion starting in the mid 2000 through the Internet. Uniqueness captured consumers, yet in a different way from Asian countries. The easy going and entertaining aspect was the appealing factor, with word of mouth and human power was what influenced in introduction of Korean pop culture. In addition, those who were into Japanese culture were easily approached to Korean pop culture. The diffusion stage was considered to be less than 10%, with very young women interested with comparison with Asia where it was about 70%. Moreover, it was found that Asian consumers are interested in Korean brand products, such as cosmetics and clothing, and Western consumers are more interested in culture and food. Then, on the survey proceeded where China and Russia was chosen based on the preliminary qualitative research as a two different stage of diffusion according regions/countries, t-test provided evidence to support the claim that depending the diffusion stage of pop culture, the effect on formation and perception of destination image differs. A significant differences were obtained in pop culture involvement, destination image (cognitive and affective), and on visit intention. Based on the t-test statistics for Korean pop culture involvement (t = 8.491, p < .000), the cognitive image (t = -3.341, p < .001), the affective image (t = 2.050, p < .05), and visit intention (t = 2.072, p < .05) were significant. Thus, when highly involved in Korean pop culture, rather than cognitive image, consumers are more likely to be involved with affective image which relates to the actual visit intention. The results corroborated several hypothesized relationships, popular culture involvement in accordance to nation affect the destination image and perception. When more highly involved, more positively it relates to affective image and the visitation intention. The findings reported in this study have managerial implications. One is that as the relation differs according to the diffusion stage, spreading pop culture may not yield visible output instantly, yet as it relates to the actual visitation intention, international pop culture activities should be supported. Second, as shown from the diffusion process globally, distinctive characteristics of each culture should be considered more when spreading such sub-culture. Lastly, therefore, it can be suggested, that according to the countries, different approach should be made in order to induce tourist from other countries. However, this study focuses more on the macro level of the phenomenon. Therefore, future research is needed to provide more evidence on the micro level and more in-depth research. In addition, this study precedes empirical study only in China and Russia. Therefore, more diverse countries should be explored and compared.
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