Korean wave Test

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Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing

ISSN: 1054-8408 (Print) 1540-7306 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wttm20

Does a Food-themed TV Drama Affect Perceptions of National Image and Intention to Visit a Country? An Empirical Study of Korea TV Drama

Seongseop Kim , Miju Kim , Jerome Agrusa & Aejoo Lee

To cite this article: Seongseop Kim , Miju Kim , Jerome Agrusa & Aejoo Lee (2012) Does a Food-themed TV Drama Affect Perceptions of National Image and Intention to Visit a Country? An Empirical Study of Korea TV Drama, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 29:4, 313-326, DOI: 10.1080/10548408.2012.674869

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2012.674869

Published online: 29 May 2012.

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Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 29:313–326, 2012 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1054-8408 print / 1540-7306 online DOI: 10.1080/10548408.2012.674869

DOES A FOOD-THEMED TV DRAMA AFFECT PERCEPTIONS OF NATIONAL IMAGE

AND INTENTION TO VISIT A COUNTRY? AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF KOREA TV DRAMA

Seongseop Kim Miju Kim

Jerome Agrusa Aejoo Lee

ABSTRACT. A Korean TV drama series (Daejanggeum), with a story line focusing on Korean food, was exported to over 50 countries resulting in a surprisingly popular mega-hit. The popularity of this TV drama, transcended across countries and cultural boundaries, has brought an enhancement to the national image of Korea or national brand, and led to a surge in sales of Korean industrial products, as well as an increased interest in Korean tourism resources. This study attempted to empirically investi- gate the effects of the TV drama series on the national image and intention to visit Korea as perceived by Chinese diners. Interestingly, the “peculiarity of Korean culture” was a main reason for preferring Korean cuisine, which positively affected the perception of the national image and the intention to visit Korea to partake in food tourism. Further, this study suggests that future studies are needed to compare the results of this research according to national, ethnic, regional, or religious boundaries. The compar- ison of other ethnic groups will be helpful for establishing different marketing strategies according to the different cohorts with different consumption patterns.

KEYWORDS. TV drama, food, image, destination, intention

INTRODUCTION

Most middle-aged or senior population cher- ish the reminiscence of the movies or films that they watched in their local theater. However, with the development of technology in media, international news changing every hour, as well

Seongseop Kim, PhD (E-mail: [email protected]) and Aejoo Lee, PhD, are in the Department of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Sejong University, Gunja-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-747 South Korea.

Miju Kim, PhD, is in the Department of Convention Management, Konyang Cyber University, Daejeon, South Korea (E-mail: [email protected]).

Jerome Agrusa, PhD, is Professor of Travel Industry Management in the College of Business Administration at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu, HI, USA (E-mail: [email protected] or jfagrusa@ aol.com).

Address correspondence to: Seongseop Kim, PhD, at the above address.

as the numerous contents of different genres being released through TV—are all signs of the changing times. The effect of a popular TV drama series or movie can become substantial in the routine of an individual viewer’s every- day life as well as in the society where the TV drama series is featured.

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This study examines the effects of a food- themed TV drama entitled Daejanggeum (Jewel in the Palace), which consisted of 70 episodes, encompassing the time period of the Chosun dynasty (1392–1910) in Korea. The story line consists of a cooking maid’s experience amid political conspiracies and faction fighting in a king’s palace. After the TV drama series was first aired in Korea in September 2003, it was also released in May of 2004 in Taiwan, October 2004 in Japan, January 2005 in Hong Kong, September 2005 in Mainland China, and October 2005 in Thailand. Since then, this Korean TV drama has reached over 50 other countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, UAE, Turkey, the Philippines, sev- eral European nations, as well as African countries such as Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Egypt, Nigeria, and Ghana (Park, 2009).

It is very interesting that this TV drama series was popular in so many different nations with such diverse religions, histories, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds. Specifically, this TV drama was sweepingly popular in Muslim coun- tries such as Iran, Malaysia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, UAE, Turkey, and Pakistan. In Iran, for example, which is a very strong Muslim society, this TV drama series was aired in prime time on Saturday and then rerun on Sunday starting from October 2006 by The IRIB Iranian public TV network. It was very unusual for a foreign TV drama to be broad- cast in prime time and on a public TV network, especially in Iran. In response to why they pre- ferred this TV drama, Iranian viewers stated that they were interested in the characteristics of old Korean society (palace, traditional cos- tumes, cuisines, society, culture), the beautiful scenic background, as well as the story content (loyalty, role of active females, happy-ending, pure love, self-achievement; “Daejanggeum’s Record-High Audience,” 2007). According to the network’s audience rating survey, over 86% of the Iranian respondents indi- cated Daejanggeum as the highest rated for- eign TV drama (“Daejanggeum’s Record-High Audience,” 2007).

The popularity of this TV drama was tran- scended over national and cultural boundaries,

which has brought an enhancement to the national image of Korea, an increase in Korean brand awareness and a surge in sales of Korean products, as well as an increased interest in Korean tourism resources (Huang, 2011). For example, the success of this TV drama in Iran has led to an increase in sales of Korean elec- tronic products by 75% and automobile sales by 65% (“Iran,” 2010).

This TV drama was aired in China on Wuhan Satellite TV network from September through October 2005. During the one and a half month airing of the TV drama, the viewing rate was an average of 14% in 30 cities of China and accord- ing to a Chinese survey, there were 16 mil- lion Chinese residents watching the TV drama during the Autumn full moon festival holiday period in 2005 (Kim, Y., 2005). In Hong Kong, this food-themed drama was aired in 2003 to 2004. The influence of the drama on Hong Kong society was massive. The viewing rate was 50.2% and the contents of this TV drama were so profound that there were cartoon books pro- duced showing the characters and story lines for Hong Kong children to enjoy (Song, 2007). Further, Janggeum, the main character of the TV drama Daejangeum, was listed in a Hong Kong Primary School’s textbook in an aim of teaching educational aspects such as etiquette, manners, wisdom, respect to seniors, loyalty, and pure love (Song, 2007).

The main goal of this study was to explore how potential tourists in mainland China per- ceive Korea after being exposed to the Korean national food, story lined TV drama series, Daejangeum. This study consisted of three spe- cific objectives. The first was to investigate reasons for preferring Korean food. The second objective was to identify whether the reasons for the preference of Korean food have an effect on the national image of Korea. Third, it was to analyze whether the reasons for the preference of Korean food have an effect on the intention to visit Korea for a food-related tour.

IMPACTS OF TV DRAMAS OR MOVIES

Numerous studies have investigated the effects of visual media on film-featured

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communities in the economic, social, and cultural contexts. These impacts on the film-featured community are mostly posi- tive including the positive economic effects, enhancement of image, or awareness of the destination. The economic or financial returns to the sites that were featured on film have been introduced by most film tourism studies. These studies focused on an increase in the number of tourists, sales of products in shops, new restaurants, as well as the increase in sales of products shown on film.

In the 1990s, Japanese popular culture was swept in to East Asia. Major TV networks released Japanese TV programs that centered on miniseries or music and generated Japanese mania. For example, in Taiwan, it is called Hari, derived from the word Ha meaning “craving” and the word Ri which indicates Japan (Huang, 2011). A Hari syndrome expanded to a love for eating Japanese food, watching Japanese TV dramas, movies, animation, reading Japanese books, listening to Japanese songs, and buying Japanese products (Liou, 2010). The Japanese movies or TV dramas attracted Taiwanese tourists to visit Japan in the mid-1990s. For example, the Japanese romantic movie Love Letter, which aired in 1995, showed Hokkaido Island as a major scenic backdrop resulting in the island becoming a well-known tourism des- tination (Huang, 2011). Japan has witnessed the popularity of numerous Japanese animations such as Conan, Dragon Ball, Galaxy Railway 999, Pocketmon, Doraiemong, and Little Car Bung Bung. Children who were exposed to these mega-hits are likely to naturally long to visit Japan and ultimately travel there.

Some studies (Han & Lee, 2008; Kim, Agrusa, Lee, & Chon, 2007; Kim, 2010) intro- duced the effects of Winter Sonata, a Korean romantic TV drama series, which was a smash sensation in Asian society, especially, Japan. The TV drama series provided a momentum to accommodate 1,435,000 foreign tourists to Korea from Asian nations. Interestingly, even though the film backdrops were in Korea, the economic impact of Winter Sonata was esti- mated to be US$2 billion in Japan (Hyundai Economic Research Institute, 2004). The eco- nomic impact in Japan from this Korean TV

drama by far exceeded US$1 billion that was reached in Korea (Hyundai Economic Research Institute, 2004).

As another example of the economic impact from films comes from the United States with the State of Georgia which has invited film- making and TV production to the state over a number of years resulting in over 450 major films and TV shows being filmed, which include such internationally hit movies or TV dramas as Driving Miss Daisy, Forrest Gump, In the Heat of the Night, and The Dukes of Hazard. As a result, more than US$3 billion has been newly created for the state’s economic contribu- tion (Poole, 2001). The Frodo Economy, coined from the success of the Lord of the Rings film, is worth US$2 billion yearly to New Zealand tourism industry and is now greater than the dairy industry, which was one of the coun- try’s main industries (Beeton, 2010; Buchmann, 2010; Croy, 2010).

Liou’s (2010) study, which replicated Kim et al.’s (2007) study, examined whether Japanese TV-dramas had influenced Taiwanese people. Taiwanese tourists who were visiting Odaiba Island and Tokyo Tower (Japanese TV drama-featured locations) were surveyed and the results found that younger respondents expressed a more active intention to visit featured TV drama locations, join fan meeting events, or purchase TV drama-related products. Likewise, those in their 20s responded with more interest in support for fan clubs, Japanese subtitle services, experiential tourism package rather than a one-time visit. Additionally, the results of this study found that those who like Japanese pop culture more were younger, female, have more financial means, have star memberships, and feel happier when viewing Japanese TV dramas while also reporting a favorable image change of Japan after watching the TV dramas.

Huang (2011) compared Japanese mania (Hari in Chinese) and the Korean wave (Hallyu in Korean and Hanliu in Chinese) in Taiwan, which were triggered or augmented by Taiwanese consumption of Japanese and Korean media. She commented that the popu- larity of the TV programs has been connected to the enhancement of the national brand and

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fashionable consumption in Taiwan. The con- sumption activities expanded to purchasing of consumer electrical products, tourism, learning the language, mimicking of lifestyle beyond purchasing of cultural products such as CDs, DVDs, comic books, fashion, and food. As a result, examples of the two nations’ success in media links cultural globalization go beyond the geo-cultural barrier, and affected industrial sectors.

Other destinations from around the world have used their natural beauty to attract movie and film studies to use their locations as back- drops for filming. One country that has benefited greatly from movie tourism is Austria. Over 40 years after the release of the movie Sound of Music, which won five Academy Awards, the most popular tour in Salzburg, Austria is the Original Sound of Music Tour (Im & Chon, 2008). Another country capitalizing on the pop- ularity of big screen movie hits such as Brave Heart with Mel Gibson is Scotland, which also focused on TV film series. A similar study by Riley, Baker, and Van Doren (1998) esti- mated a 43% increase in visitation to 12 U.S. film locations 5 years after the movie release of the destination compared to pre-release history.

Understanding the benefits of showing the natural beauty of a destination in movies and film can act as a brand-building vehicle for a tourist destination, such as Hawaii. As of 2011, the State of Hawaii, through Act 88, provides a tax credit to entice movie and TV production to the state by providing a 15% tax credit on the island of Oahu, home of Honolulu and a 20% tax credit on all other Hawaiian islands used for film production. A number of movies have recently been filmed in Hawaii such as 50 First Dates, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, as well as Adam Sandler’s 2011 hit comedy Just Go With It, starring Jennifer Aniston.

While a major motion picture filmed at a des- tination can bring in millions of dollars in direct production costs and actors’ fees, the benefits to the location can come for years afterwards. A TV series, unlike a big screen movie, can pro- vide weekly reinforcements of a destination’s

appeal on a weekly basis and keep a desti- nation at the top-of-mind of a viewer which can do wonders for tourism to that destination (Beeton, 2010; Croy, 2010; Croy & Heitmann, 2011; Heitmann, 2010). For example, the first television series to bring images of Hawaii to the world was Hawaii Five-O in 1968. In 2010, the remake of the Hawaii Five-O TV series was launched to raving reviews and was the number one action drama in the nighttime TV ratings. Another hit TV series Lost, which was also filmed on the island of Oahu, had an estimated $400 million impact on Hawaii’s economy dur- ing the six seasons of filming according to state figures (Magin, 2010).

In addition to the economic gains, popu- lar TV dramas or films generate extra benefits such as an increase in awareness or image of a film-exposed destination (Beeton, 2001, 2005, 2008; Buchmann, 2010; Connell, 2005; Croy, 2010; Han & Lee, 2008; Huang, 2011; Im & Chon, 2008; Kim, 2010; Kim et al., 2007; Kim et al., 2008; Liou, 2010; Mercille, 2005; Riley & Van Doren, 1998). There are also some studies that reported that films and TV programs have contributed to reconciling antagonistic relations between two countries and reducing cultural dis- parity (Han & Lee, 2008; Kim et al., 2007; Kim, 2010).

In sum, previous studies commonly con- cluded that the role of film and TV is enormous in numerous aspects. Films or TV dramas con- tributed to economic gains, reconstruction of the image of a film destination, as well as propelling cultural understanding and reducing animosity between unfriendly nations. As a result, food- themed featured movies or TV dramas can be an effective vehicle to mushroom one nation’s cul- tural or philosophical meaning (Boyne, Hall, & Williams, 2003; du Rand, Heath, & Alberts, 2003).

CONCEPTUALIZATION

For example, the TV drama Daejanggeum suggests that Korean cuisine featured in this Korean TV drama is an important medium to stimulate the interest in the national culture,

Kim et al. 317

tradition, and history of Korea. This film con- tributed to the heightening of a national image and an increase in tourism to the nation where tourists can taste the cuisine, purchase souvenirs, participate in agricultural cuisine tourism activities through visiting farms, dairy manufacturing, breweries, wineries, and food- themed tours (Boyne et al., 2003; du Rand et al., 2003; Hall & Mitchell, 2000; Hjalager & Corigliano, 2000).

It is easily noticed that advertisements of foods shown in film can represent and expose a tourism destination. As a result, food is used as a promotional tool to attract tourists and stim- ulate visitation to a destination (du Rand & Heath, 2006; du Rand et al., 2003; Hjalager & Corigliano, 2000; Tikkanen, 2007). Specially, as mentioned above, the effects of the food-themed TV drama were enormous. It is very plausible that the media is effective in heightening inter- est in food and formatting a national image, resulting in an increase in food-motivated tourism (Boyne et al., 2003; du Rand et al., 2003).

Figure 1 illustrates conceptualization of this study which exhibits relationships between

reasons for preferring Korean foods, national image of Korea, and as a result, intention to visit Korea. The cause-effect flow in Figure 1 starts from mainland Chinese residents’ dra- matic increase in interest in Korean cuisines and culture deriving from the introduction of the Daejanggeum drama series. As a next step in this relationship, reasons for preferring Korean cuisine are likely to lead to an enhancement of the Korean national image and intention to visit Korea for food tourism. On the basis of the aforementioned reasoning, the following hypotheses were established:

Hypothesis 1: Factors for preferring Korean food are likely to positively affect the national image of Korea.

Hypothesis 1-1: The “healthy menu” factor is likely to positively affect the national image of Korea.

Hypothesis 1-2: “Peculiarity of Korean cul- ture” factor is likely to positively affect the national image of Korea.

Hypothesis 1-3: “Variety and harmony” fac- tors are likely to positively affect the national image of Korea.

FIGURE 1. Proposed Structural Model

Reasons for preferring Korean

food

Peculiarity of Korean food culture (ξ2)

Healthy menu (ξ1)

Variety and harmony

(ξ3)

Intention to visit Korea for food tourism (η2)

Perception of national image

(η1)

Hypothesis 1-1 (γ11)

Hypothesis 1-2 (γ12)

Hypothesis 2-1 (γ21)

Hypothesis 1-3 (γ13) Hypothesis 2-3 (γ23)

Hypothesis 2-2 (γ22)

Hypothesis 3 (β21)

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Hypothesis 2: Factors for preferring Korean food are likely to positively affect the inten- tion to visit Korea for food tourism.

Hypothesis 2-1: “Healthy menu” factor is likely to positively affect the intention to visit Korea for food tourism.

Hypothesis 2-2: “Peculiarity of Korean cul- ture” factor is likely to positively affect the intention to visit Korea for food tourism.

Hypothesis 2-3: “Variety and harmony” fac- tors are likely to positively affect the inten- tion to visit Korea for food tourism.

Hypothesis 3: The national image of Korea is likely to positively affect the intention to visit Korea for food tourism.

METHODS

Measurement

A pivotal measurement of the question- naire was to identify the reasons for preferring Korean cuisine by mainland Chinese residents. Thus, this study focused on the development of questionnaire items indicating reasons for preferring Korean cuisine. At first, to guaran- tee face validity, a review of previous stud- ies on Korean food characteristics were com- pleted (Kim & Kim, 2004; Kim, J., 2005; Ju & Kennon, 2002; Min, 2003). In addition, articles or commentaries describing the popularity of Korean food released in the mass media were also reviewed (Korea Economy, 2005; “Korea Town,” 2005, “‘Daejanggeum’ Fever,” 2006; “‘Daejanggeum’: The Power,” 2006). Questions asking the national image of Korea and the intention to visit Korea for food tourism were an area of focus.

For this study, all questions were written in Chinese; however, the original survey instru- ment was written in Korean. In designing the questionnaires, the double translation method (back translation) was utilized prior to distribu- tion. (McGorry, 2000). Even though occasions exist where the literal translation process may have missing information, the double translation method is one of the most adequate translation processes (Lau & McKercher, 2004).

The Korean version of the questionnaire was first translated into Chinese by a Chinese grad- uate student studying in Korea and reviewed by three Korean researchers who majored in Chinese to check for any mistranslations. Then, to guarantee the accuracy of the translated ver- sions of the questionnaires, a reverse translation (where the Chinese version was translated into a Korean version) was processed by the four independent bilingual individuals who partici- pated in translation and reviewing. Finally, the Korean version is translated back into Chinese addressing any inconsistencies.

As a final step, to avoid any ambiguity in the questions, and to ensure that all of the ques- tions written on the survey instrument were clearly understood, the questionnaire was pre- tested by 25 mainland Chinese graduate students who studied in Hong Kong prior to the data collection.

Questions, which indicate “reasons of prefer- ence for Korean food,” consisted of 12 items. Respondents were requested to answer on a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = somewhat disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = somewhat agree, and 5 = strongly agree. To assess if there was a change in the image of Korea after experiencing Korean food, a ques- tion labeled “after experiencing Korean food, how has your image of Korea changed?” was operationalized. A response of the image change question was answered on a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = became very unfavorable, 2 = became somewhat unfavorable, 3 = unchanged, 4 = became somewhat favorable, and 5 = became very favorable. A question to measure the respondents’ intention to visit Korea for food tourism was worded as “after experiencing Korean food, has your intention to visit Korea for food tourism increased?” Respondents were requested to check on a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = somewhat dis- agree, 3 = neutral, 4 = somewhat agree, 5 = strongly agree.

Data Collection

The data collection was carried out at five Korean restaurants in the major Chinese cities of Shanghai and Beijing. To conduct the surveys,

Kim et al. 319

endorsement from the restaurant owners was requested and granted. The owners of the Korean restaurants were persuaded to cooperate with the data collection through an explana- tion that the research being conducted is to try to understand Chinese diner preferences for Korean food and their characteristics. The researchers also promised to share the results of the research to the restaurant owners.

Surveys were collected by post-graduate stu- dents in Shanghai and Beijing as well as employees working in the Korean restaurants. A total of 630 questionnaires were distributed, with a total of 600 questionnaires being gar- nered. However, of those collected, 23 ques- tionnaires with multiple missing values were eliminated, resulting in 577 questionnaires that were used for data analyses.

Data Analysis

A frequency analysis was initially attempted to explore general profiles of the respondents. Since the instrument requested the reasons for their preference of “Korean food” consists of 14 items, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to identify the underlying dimensions of scale. In this stage, reliability coefficients were also checked to measure the internal con- sistency among the items. Then a confirmatory factor analysis was undertaken to identify vari- ous validities. Finally, structural equation mod- eling (SEM) was applied to assess if the hypoth- esized theoretical model was consistent with the collected data. Results of all data analyses were gained using SPSS 13.0 and AMOS 5.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).

RESULTS

Demographic Profile of Respondents

Table 1 shows the demographic profile of the respondents. Approximately 53% of respon- dents were females, whereas about 58% of them were single. Those in their 20s and 30s age cat- egories indicated 57.8 and 26.5%, respectively. Approximately 85% of the respondents reported that this was their first visit to a Korean restau- rant. Regarding information sources of Korea

and Korean food, TV/radio was 63%, while newspaper/magazine was 17.6%. With regard to a question asking about annual expenditure in buying products or participating in activi- ties such as Korean CDs or magazines, Korean food, Korean singers’ concert tickets, study- ing Korean language—over 501 RMB (20.8%), 101–500 RMB (26.9%), 51–100 RMB (22.3%), 11–40 RMB (14.9%), and 10 RMB or less (15.1%). The highest percentages of a monthly household income fell on 2,500–4,999 RMB category (30.7%) and 5,000–9,999 RMB cate- gory (24.2%). As for education, almost 90% of the respondents reported they are college stu- dents or are graduates of college. Respondents’ occupation consisted of students (26.6%), pro- fessionals (13.2%), sales/service (10.2%), and civil servants (8.9%).

Factor Analysis and Reliability Test

Table 2 presents results of factor analysis and reliability tests designed to acquire the reason for preferring Korean food. Results of the factor analysis reported three underlying domains where eigenvalues were greater than 1.0. A principal component method to gener- ate the underlying factors was employed. The rotation method used for the factor analysis was “varimax” which attempts to maximize vari- ances of the factor loadings in a certain predeter- mined fashion. Based on the result of the scree plot test, the eigenvalues for the three factors were greater than 1.0. The three-factor structure accounted for 61.00% of the variance.

Results of testing reliability within the three domains reported .86, .82, and .83, which met the criterion recommended by Nunnally (1978), which indicated .70, they were considered to have the internal consistency of items on each domain. In addition, factor loadings, which measure the correlation between the observed measurements and the factors, were greater than .58 on the three domains. Values of the factor loadings were satisfactory with the criterion of Comrey and Lee (1992), which suggested that factor loadings greater than .45 can be classified as fair or above in interpreting the derived fac- tors. The mean values for the 14 items ranged from 3.43 to 3.84, respectively.

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TABLE 1. Demographic Profile (N = 577)

Variable Category % Variable Category %

Sex Male 46.8 Annual expenditure in buying Korean cultural products

10 RMB or less 15.1 Female 53.2 11–40 RMB 14.9

Marital status Single 41.6 51–100 RMB 22.3 Married 58.4 101–500 RMB 26.9

501 RMB or above 20.8

Age 10s 3.5 Monthly household income 400 RMB or less 3.2 20s 57.8 400–1,499 RMB 11.2 30s 26.5 1,500–2,499 RMB 17.9 40s 9.8 2,500–4,999 RMB 30.7 50s or above 2.4 5,000–9,999 RMB 24.2

10,000–19,999 RMB 8.9 20,000 RMB or above 3.9

Frequency of visit to a Korean restaurant

1st 84.9 Education Elementary school .3 2nd 9.2 Middle school 2.6 3rd 3.4 High school 7.7 4th 9.2 College student 34.1 5th or above 1.3 College graduate 55.3

Information sources of Korea and Korean food

TV/radio 62.6 Occupation Company employee 6.6 Newspaper/magazine 17.6 Business 2.6 Internet 12.3 Civil servant 8.9 Theater 5.2 Agriculture/fishery 1.6 Restaurant 1.6 Professional 13.2 Others .7 Housewife 5.2

Technician 5.9 Student 26.6 Sales/service 10.2 Teacher 4.5 Transportation 2.1 Others 12.6

TABLE 2. Results of Factor Analysis Regarding the Reasons for Preferring Korean Food (N = 577)

Items Factor loading

Mean Variance (%)

Factor 1: Healthy menu (reliability alpha = .86) Because of low calories (Item 7) .75 3.73 Because of balanced nutrients of carbohydrate, protein, and fat (Item 6) .71 3.78 Because of few food materials in Korean food (Item 5) .69 3.76 22.76 Because of the good diet due to a range of vegetables (Item 4) .66 3.80 Because of taking in other side dishes with rice (Item 8) .62 3.84 Because of healthy food (Item 3) .58 3.79

Factor 2: Peculiarity of Korean food culture (reliability alpha = .82) Because of feeling high class with a lot of efforts unlike instant food (Item 15) .79 3.49 Because of appropriate price (Item 14) .75 3.44 Because of providing beautiful combination due to diverse food (Item 16) .69 3.72 22.33 Because of the Korean TV drama series, Daejanggeum (Item 11) .59 3.76 Because of feeling a familiarity with Asian food compared to Western food (Item 13) .56 3.68 Because of experiencing traditional culture through Korean food (Item 12) .56 3.74

Factor 3: Variety & harmony (reliability alpha = .83) Because of diverse food ingredients (Item 1) .85 3.43 15.91 Because of offering various presentations (Item 2) .83 3.72

Note. Items were measured on 5-point Likert scales (strongly disagree = 1, neutral = 3, strongly agree = 5).

Kim et al. 321

Results of Confirmatory Factor Analyses and Measurement Invariance Tests

After exploratory factor analysis, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was con- ducted to guarantee the proposed measurement model, which specifies the posited relations of the observed variables to the latent constructs. In CFA, the maximum likelihood method of estimation was used to test the model.

In Table 3, results of conducting the CFA analysis reported that goodness-of-fit indices (GIF) were satisfactory, indicating GFI = .92, adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) = .89, comparative fit index (CFI) = .93, root mean residual (RMR) = .08, and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .07. However, the chi-square value—χ2(97) = 386.31, p = .000—was not met with the indices. As most researchers suggest that since the chi- square is sensitive to the sample size, other fit indices are substantially helpful in evaluating the model.

According to Hair, Anderson, Tatham, and Black (1998), discriminant validity indicates the extent to which a given construct is different from other constructs. The average variance

extracted (AVE) for each construct to assess the discriminant validity is compared to the squared correlations between the construct and all other constructs. When the AVE for each construct is greater than the squared correlations between the construct and all other constructs, there exists the discriminant validity (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). As Table 4 suggests, the low- est AVE value was shown as .47, whereas the highest squared correlation between each pair of constructs was .46. Since the lowest AVE value was greater than the highest squared correlation, this measurement model evidenced discriminant validity.

Structural Equation Model

A structural equation model (SEM) with the maximum likelihood method of estimation was empirically tested to analyze if the hypoth- esized theoretical model was consistent with the collected data. The covariance matrix was input to further test the hypothesized struc- tural model. Table 5 indicates the GFI for the hypothesized structural model. With the excep- tion of the chi-square value—χ2(96) = 264.15, p = .000—the GFI were satisfactory, indicating

TABLE 3. Results of Confirmatory Factor Analyses

Construct Items Factor loading t value SMC AVEb CCRc

Healthy menu 7 .63 13.94 .39 .54 .88 6 .74 16.07 .45 5 .73 15.92 .52 4 .74 16.11 .53 8 .62 13.69 .44 3 .71 –a

Peculiarity of Korean food culture 15 .74 14.50 .31 .47 .84 14 .71 14.06 .30 16 .72 14.20 .26 11 .58 12.02 .43 13 .59 12.22 .30 12 .65 -a

Variety & harmony 1 .77 15.72 .26 .74 .85 2 .90 -a .94

National image 15 Not Available Intention visit to Korea for food tourism 16 Not Available Fit indices χ2(97) = 386.31 (p = .000), GFI = .92, AGFI = .89, CFI = .93, RMR = .08,

RMSEA = .07 aIn the measurement model, the estimated parameter was fixed at 1.0. bAverage Variance Extracted (AVE) = ( ∑

standardized loadings2)/[( ∑

standardized loadings2) + ∑εj ], where εj is the measurement error. cComposite Construct Reliability (CCR) = (∑standardized loadings)2/[(∑standardized loadings)2 + ∑εj ].

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TABLE 4. Correlation Matrix

Construct 1 2 3 4 5

1 1.000 2 .681 1.000 3 .560 .491 1.000 4 .356 .432 .306 1.000 5 .372 .446 .317 .654 1.000 Mean 3.78 3.63 3.57 3.63 3.40 Standard deviation .679 .691 .810 .695 .898

Note. All correlation coefficients were significant at the .001 level. Construct 1 = healthy menu; Construct 2 = peculiarity of Korean food culture; Construct 3 = variety & harmony of Korean food; Construct 4 = national image; Construct 5 = intention to visit Korea for food tourism.

GFI = .94, AGFI = .92, CFI = .96, RMR = .03, RMSEA = .06.

Three among the seven estimated path coeffi- cients were statistically significant at the .01 or .001 level. The results are exhibited in Figure 2. The very significant relationships were found on the paths of “peculiarity of Korean food cul- ture” to “national image” (ϒ12 = .46, t = 5.21, p < .001), “peculiarity of Korean food culture”

to “intention to visit Korea for food tourism” (ϒ22 = .46, t = 2.91, p < .01), and “national image” to “intention to visit for food tourism” (β21 = 0.54, t = 14.92, p < .001). Interestingly, paths of “health menu” to “national image” and “health menu” to “intention to visit Korea for food tourism” were not significant at the .05 level. In addition, paths of “variety and har- mony” to “national image”or “health menu” to “intention to visit Korea for food tourism” were not significant at the .05 level. They mean that Chinese respondents are not aware of the pos- itive characteristics of Korean cuisine, which uses many healthy ingredients such as vegeta- bles or herbs in their diversity of side dishes as well as main menus. In sum, Hypotheses 1-2, 2-2, and 3 were accepted because the three paths were significant at the .01 or .001 level. Even though the direct effect of a path does not exist, there is an indirect effect that one path can be affected by other paths. However, there were no or minimal indirect effects for rejected paths since the values of the indirect effects on the rejected paths were lower than .06 (Table 5).

TABLE 5. Results of SEM Analyses

Path Unstandardized coefficient

Standard error

Standardized coefficient

t value p value Total effect

Indirect effect

Decision

Chinese diner sample χ2(96) = 264.15 (p = .000), GFI = .940, AGFI = .916, CFI = .957, RMR = .033, RMSEA = .055

Hypothesis 1-1 (Healthy menu to National image)

−.06 .10 −.06 −.59 .553 −.06 .00 Reject

Hypothesis 1-2 (Peculiarity of Korean food culture to National image)

.56 .11 .46 5.21∗∗ .000 .46 .00 Accept

Hypothesis 1-3 (Variety & harmony to National image)

.09 .05 .10 1.72 .086 .10 .00 Reject

Hypothesis 2-1 (Healthy menu to Intention to visit Korea for food tourism)

−.02 .10 −.02 −.23 .815 −.05 −.03 Reject

Hypothesis 2-2 (Peculiarity of Korean food culture to Intention to visit Korea for food tourism)

.34 .11 .22 2.91∗ .004 .47 .25 Accept

Hypothesis 2-3 (Variety & harmony to Intention to visit Korea for food tourism)

.07 .06 .06 1.17 .242 .11 .06 Reject

Hypothesis 3 (National image to Intention to visit Korea for food tourism)

.69 .05 .54 14.92∗∗ .000 .54 .00 Accept

∗p < .01. ∗∗p < .001.

Kim et al. 323

FIGURE 2. Results of Structural Model Analyses

Peculiarity of Korean food culture (ξ2)

Healthy menu (ξ1)

Variety and harmony (ξ3)

Intention to visit Korea for food tourism (η2)

Perception of national image

(η1)

γ11 = –.06

γ12 = .46 (5.21**)

γ21 = –.02

γ13 = .10 Y1 Y2

γ22 = .22 (2.91*)

γ23 = .06

β21 = .54 (14.92**)

X3

X4

X5

X1

X8

X9

X10

X11

X13

X14

δ1

δ2

δ3

δ4

δ5

δ8

δ9

δ10

δ11

δ13

δ14

ε1 ε2

ζ1

Reasons for preferring Korean

food

X12δ12

X7δ7

ζ2

X2

X6δ6

*p<.01, **p<.001

CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

A restaurant with typical indigenous foods is a place where diners can be introduced to the national or ethnic culture, traditions, his- tory, lifestyle, or customs of a country or area. Besides the food, the decoration or displays inside the restaurant can transmit authenticity of the nationality or culture. Thus, frequent patronage to a foreign restaurant is tangential to experiencing part of that nation’s culture. Based on this empirical study, there are major findings and implications.

First, it was found that the ‘peculiarity of Korean food culture” characteristic was a rea- son for preferring Korean food, which had a positively significant affect on improving the national image of Korea. That is, Chinese din- ers were influenced by the Korean food-story lined TV drama and highly recognized that Korean food included elements of Korean tradi- tional culture. Their perception after experienc- ing Korean food directly led to the improvement of the national image of Korea. Based on the results of this study, it is believed to be impor- tant to develop menu items that are made from

traditional Korean ingredients such as Korean ginseng, herbs, medicinal vegetables, as well as Korean grown tea. In addition, traditional Korean decor in a restaurant is also helpful for increasing market penetration into the Chinese dining market.

For example, Chinese diners are likely to prefer a Korean restaurant decorated with tra- ditional or authentic Korean cultural items such as Korean designed staff uniforms, dishes, nap- kins, menus, as well as Korean story lines on the tables. Interior restaurant displays using Korean traditional wooden paper, or curtains using nat- ural dyed material, as well as an interior ambi- ence that uses acoustics from nature such as the sounds of wind, rain, or birds will be effective in capturing and providing eye-catching decor for Chinese customers. These efforts to enhance the authenticity of Korean cuisine are expected to be helpful in enhancing the national image of Korea and increasing their intention to visit Korea for food tourism.

Second, it was found that “healthy food” did not significantly influence the national image and the intention to visit Korea for food tourism. This finding implies cultural difference

324 JOURNAL OF TRAVEL & TOURISM MARKETING

in dietary patterns between Korean food and Chinese patrons. For example, a portion of the Chinese population that can afford it preferred meat. In contrast, Korean food, in particular, consists of a majority of diverse vegetables. Even though vegetables are considered to be health conscious foods by preventing the intake of some fats, some Chinese diners believe that Chinese food with a lot of meat and protein is more nutritious then Korean food with a large portion of vegetables.

This perception can also be from the lack of availability of meat and cost factors may play a role in their perception of eating meats versus vegetables (Chang, 2009). Interestingly, Chinese people enjoy hot soup, vegetables served hot, as well as hot tea. However, most Korean vegetable foods are served cold. Thus, Chinese customers are reluctant to eat certain Korean foods. Therefore, this finding implies a need to increase promotional efforts to educate Chinese restaurant patrons that Korean cuisine uses natural and health conscious ingredients rather than a large amount of meats or instant foods with preservatives.

Third, the intention to visit Korea for food tourism was significantly influenced by the heightened national image. These findings are very understandable in that an enhanced percep- tion of a nation’s image through having more interest in the country’s food can be easily linked to the intention to travel to that country where tourists can taste the food in the home country of origin. These results are consistent with those of most studies (Beeton, 2001, 2005, 2008; Busby & Klug, 2001; Connell, 2005; Han & Lee, 2008; Huang, 2011; Kim et al., 2007; Liou, 2010; Portegies, 2010; Tooke & Baker, 1996) that viewers who were exposed to TV programs showing positive aspects of a destination had a strong intention to visit the film-shot area while recognizing an enhance- ment of the image of the filmed destina- tion and eventually traveling to the featured country.

Fourth, results of this study positively sup- port that food can be a medium to enhance the national image and intention to visit a country. The results are consistent with notions of previ- ous studies, which emphasized the importance

of a nation’s food in economic or industrial aspects (Boyne et al., 2003; du Rand & Heath, 2006; Hjalager & Corigliano, 2000). The finding of this study implies that a promotional effect utilizing food-story lined cues in movies or TV shows or a famous chef producing food from a destination will be very effective in reinforcing a positive image of the destination and increase the intention to visit the location of the food origin to taste the national cuisine.

Fifth, adverse impacts of film-induced tourism, however, should also be taken into consideration in making the most of a TV drama in a film destination. For example, the popularity of the film or TV drama can fade away after the end of the film or drama. It can result in a dramatic decrease in the number of visitors to a filmsetting or film-featured destination (Buchmann, 2010; Croy, 2010; Heitmann, 2010). There is also a concern about commodification of national cultures across borders through the screen (Portegies, 2010). Most backdrops shown on the screen, which are featured in a historic TV drama or movie, are newly created which may not be accurate in review of historical events. Furthermore, even story lines can be crafted within a writer’s imagination or mystification (Karpovich, 2010; Kim, 2010; Reyes, 1995; Schofield, 1996), which is likely to bring misinterpretation of the national culture or historical realities. Finally, when the film-induced destination becomes a mass tourism location, diverse negative impacts on the host society such as pollution, increase in waste, degradation of the environment, prostitution, change of community customs or identity can occur.

A TV drama or movie itself can give a rise to an unfavorable diplomatic relationship between countries in the case of a drama or movie deal- ing with a disputed historical story between different national, religious, or ethnic groups. Concerns also exist with the political use of culture, cultural nationalism, or overriding com- mercialization of culture. Consequently, film media should be utilized as a vehicle to promote goodwill and peace as well as an understanding between heterogonous cultures among nations, ethnic groups, religious groups, ideologies, and races.

Kim et al. 325

This study was limited to Chinese diners’ attitude toward Korean foods. Since the food- story lined drama series researched in this study has been aired in over 50 nations, future stud- ies are needed to compare the results cross- culturally as the film-induced effects may be different. Future research efforts may be help- ful in identifying heterogeneity according to national, ethnic, regional, or religious bound- aries in accepting Korean food culture as well as establishing different marketing strategies according to the different cohorts with different consumption patterns.

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SUBMITTED: July 4, 2011 FINAL REVISION SUBMITTED:

November 16, 2011 ACCEPTED: December 22, 2011 REFEREED ANONYMOUSLY