The Effect of Social Media Engagement in the Purcahse Intention of South Korea’s Popular Media (Hallyu) Travel Package: Based on Uses and Gratifications Theory

Abstract

Hallyu, commonly known as the Korean Wave, has emerged as a significant contributor to the global export of popular culture. The role of Web 2.0 and media convergence in driving the growing interest in Hallyu over the past decade, transcending geographical boundaries and fostering a global fanbase. Despite Hallyu's significant impact on global popular culture and its potential for destination promotion, further investigation is needed to understand its specific influences on consumer behavior. Previous research has focused on user motivations in a broader context, but there is a gap in understanding the influence of cultural content topics within the media, particularly on YouTube. Additionally, while previous studies have explored Hallyu's promotion of inbound tourism, there is still a need to fully comprehend its impact on attracting international tourists. Furthermore, considering the growing importance of social media platforms like YouTube, it is necessary to explore their role in disseminating and consuming Hallyu content and their potential in attracting and influencing international tourists. This research aims to address these gaps and provide insights into the relationship between Hallyu media, consumer behavior, and destination promotion. This research explores the distinctive entertainment characteristics of Hallyu that effectively contribute to destination promotion strategies. The demographic characteristics of the participants were outlined, revealing a predominance of females aged 19 to 29, with varying levels of education, primarily students. The research findings confirmed that gratifications obtained from YouTube had a significant and direct influence on both passive content consumption (H1) and active content contribution (H2). The study demonstrated that YouTube usage positively influenced purchase intentions (H3). Additionally, the study confirmed that passive engagement had a significant impact on increasing active engagement (H4). It was found that active consumer engagement played a significant role in shaping purchase intentions (H6). Interestingly, passive engagement did not significantly affect Hallyu travel package purchases (H5) or mediate the relationship between uses and gratifications (H7). Building on the validity of the active-passive relationship. It has been further confirmed its positive influence on the mediation of active engagement (H8) and the sequential mediation between the independent variable and passive to active engagement on the dependent variable (H9). The research acknowledges the significance of considering the cultural backgrounds of Hallyu consumers. However, the findings related to the moderated effect of Asian and Western cultural backgrounds are limited, as only one of the suggested hypotheses (H10). The theoretical implications of this study are as follows. It revealed that the gratifications derived from YouTube significantly influence both passive and active content engagement. It also examined the role of passivity and consumer engagement behavior within the realm of Hallyu content consumption. These findings highlight the potential for enhancing tourist engagement through the effective utilization of Hallyu tourism websites, similar to YouTube, and suggest continuous global expansion of online marketing for Hallyu travel packages.