earticle

영어

Hallyu or Korean wave refers to the worldwide popularity of Korean media contents and culture. When dealing with Hallyu, previous studies mostly focused on its effect on Korea’s country image, purchase intentions of Korean product and intentions to visit Korea. Country image is formed by various political, social, economical, and cultural elements. However, previous research did not adequately reflect the multidimensional factors of country image. Therefore, this study empirically examined relationships among Korean media contents, Korea’s country image and visit intention based on multidimensional factors of its country image. In this study, three research questions were examined. First, what are the factors of Korea’s country image among Chinese college students? Second, do gender, age and the use of Korean media contents influence the factors of Korea’s country image? Third, do gender, age, the use of Korean media contents and the factors of Korea’s country image have any impact on the intention to visit Korea? To determine these research questions, this study employed a survey of 263 university students in Beijing Factor analysis was conducted to examine the first research question. The result revealed four factors of Korea’s country image – Social/economy, Koreans/culture, relation and product. To investigate the second research question, a hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. The result suggested that students who increasingly watched Korean drama had a better image of Korean people and culture. To investigate the final research question, a hierarchical regression was conducted. The result indicated that students who increasingly watched Korean drama and listened Korean pop songs were more likely to visit Korea. Moreover, the image of Koreans and culture had a mediating effect on the relationship between the use of Korean drama and intention to visit Korea.