• Information Systems Review
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.145-164
• /
• 2023

The proliferation of online reviews on dining experiences has significantly affected consumers' choices of restaurants, especially overseas. Food quality, service, ambiance, and price have been identified as specific attributes for the choice of a restaurant in prior studies. In addition to these four representative attributes, cultural factors, which may also significantly impact the choice of a restaurant for tourists, in particular, have not received much attention in previous studies. This study employs the text mining technique to analyze over 10,000 online reviews of 76 Korean restaurants posted by Chinese tourists on dianping.com to explore the influence of cultural factors on the consumer's choice of restaurants in the overseas travel context. The findings reveal that "Hallyu (Korean Wave)" influences Chinese tourists' dining experiences in Korea and their satisfaction. Moreover, Korean food-related words, such as cold noodle, bibimbap, rice cake, pig trotters, and kimchi stew, appeared across all the review topics. Our findings contribute to the existing tourism and hospitality literature by identifying the critical role of cultural factors on consumers', especially tourists', satisfaction with the choice of a restaurant using text mining. The findings also provide practical guidance to restaurant owners in Korea to attract more Chinese tourists.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.51-64
• /
• 2021

Among global K-pop fandoms Chinese fandom is a longtime and very strong consumer power in the K-pop industry due to its adjacent geographical location and low cultural barriers. Yet, there is a significant lack of research on Chinese K-pop fandom; most of what is available is from the producers' points of view. Research that explores the position and experience of Chinese fans, who are both mass audience and consumers, is slow to emerge. Thus, there is a need for systematic and careful study of Chinese K-pop fandom. In this research, we conducted a phenomenological study of the experience of Chinese fans of K-pop culture. We conducted participatory observation and in-depth interviews (including a FGI) with Chinese superintendents and active participants in Chinese K-pop fan clubs and fan pages. We then coded the data, following the theory of fandom developed by scholars such as Fiske (1992), and analyzed the phenomenon of Chinese K-pop fandom from the frame of the overall societal environment. We considered the psychological and behavioral characteristics of Chinese fans and the influences they receive from their turbulent social environments. We also considered the expectations of and opinions on the development of K-pop culture from their perspective. Based on our findings, the significant role and influence of independent fans and interdependent fandom in the development of K-pop culture and industry are identified. Finally, we emphasize that the role as facilitators of K-pop agencies is critical in the establishment of communication and trust between fans, K-pop artists, and the agencies.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
• /
• v.15 no.8
• /
• pp.1-18
• /
• 2021

Idol music, which began to gain huge popularity in the domestic music market in the mid-1990s, has become one of the major global contents thanks to the global popularity of K-POP. As a result, the Korean music market continues to grow, forming the world's sixth-largest music market, and domestic music agencies are focusing more on fostering idol groups and producing idol music. The global success of idol music is surprising, but this has resulted in the domestic music market being biased toward idol music. As a result of the study, it was confirmed that there are several problems with the phenomenon of being biased toward similar types of musicians and music content. First, just as trend-oriented cultural contents face the problem of life expectancy all the time, the "Korean Wave" is also forced to think in terms of identity and sustainability. Second, it was observed that only consumers of a certain age may cause cultural alienation of other age groups, and thirdly, various problems such as shrinking creative paths due to the size of the cost required for idol group production and the lifespan of idol musicians' art activities. This paper derives the reality of the domestic idol bias phenomenon through comparative analysis of the English-American music market and the domestic music market, which have had a profound influence on the global music market in popular music history, and verified the theory and results through an expert survey using the Likert scale. In addition, the problems caused by the idol bias phenomenon were considered based on the theory of cultural diversity, and improvement directions were also suggested to solve this problem.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.417-426
• /
• 2020

The culture industry has been considered very important as firms utilize human creativity as the main source for providing high-value-added services. In this industry, the inspirations and ideas of individual creators have been stressed rather than the roles of entrepreneurs so far. However, in recent years, due to the influence of "Hallyu" or the Korean Wave, entrepreneurial firms have actively participated in producing a variety of products embracing cultural value. In this vein, the entrepreneurship-related elements such as the degree of leaders' innovativeness, risk-taking environment, first mover advantage, employee compensation, and tolerance to failure were selected to investigate their effects on market leadership. As a result, it was observed that risk-taking environment, first mover advantage, employee compensation, and tolerance to failure had a positive effect whereas leaders' innovativeness was not statistically meaningful. These findings show that the creation of an atmosphere where employees' creativity can be fully appreciated is more important than the leader' insight-driven innovativeness. The results of this study indicate that when companies formulate strategies and the government initiate policies in the culture industry, entrepreneurship should be incorporated as a crucial element.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.483-493
• /
• 2014

In a modern society where various kinds of cultures coexist, kidult culture seeking something pleasant and interesting in the adult culture has made an appearance affected by pop art. The goal of this study is to help the kidult culture carrying on the feature of pop art to promise a bright future in the consumer market and to help kidult marketing through the expansion of globalization of kidult culture goods. The first study method was to refer to the theoretical research material like theses or academic journals to analyze the feature of pop art and cultural phenomenon. The second one was to analyze media reports, TV programs, movies, and ads currently in issue about kidult cultures in news, media data, and internet materials to feel the kidult cultural phenomenon at the moment. The result of this study shows that, especially, popularity, vividness, and sense of humor and wit among the features of pop art have a great influence on the kidult culture. As a result, Firstly, We can expect a vitalization in the consumer market through qualitative and quantitative improvement of kidult consumer culture. Secondly, We should make an effort to expand kidult consumer culture by developing various kinds of culture goods for each age groups. Thirdly, Domestic companies should open up an adult consumer market with self-developed character products. Fourthly, We should make an aggressive marketing strategy for kidult culture goods in the world market in the flow of Hallyu.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.11 no.12
• /
• pp.709-723
• /
• 2013

This study aims to diagnose the present condition of the Digital comics industry, including the "webtoon", which is receiving attention as the new Korean wave (Hallyu) cultural content, and explore ways to vitalize these contents. Considering the fact that the distribution rate of smart devices in Korea is the highest in the world as of June 2013, and that comics as contents have been known to show the easiest and fastest adaptation to changes in the media, the Digital comics industry is certainly an area with high expected growth, but its actual size of the industry shows a very low growth rate compared to other digital contents. This study analyzes the present condition of the Digital comics industry through theoretical and precedent study, and deducts 7 major factors that inhibit the growth of Digital comics industry by summing up the industry structure through making surveys of major businesses in the industry. Further, problems and possible solutions of the digital comics industry are discussed through in-depth interviews with total 10 digital comics industry experts. Building a ecosystem based charged service, realizing a total management system, government support and improvements on restrictions are discussed as solutions to a sustained growth of the Digital comics industry.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.17 no.9
• /
• pp.543-551
• /
• 2016

Recently, the cultural industry has become an attractive industry which is having a dramatic effect with the rise of Hallyu offering many possibilities for development. Specially, the marketing techniques employed by the performing arts industry started to change to respond to consumer tastes and demands like other commodity markets, as the popular performing arts industry began to receive attention as a promising industry. It is important to identify the behavior of consumers in order to actively deal with the demands and tastes of consumers that are becoming increasingly diverse and individualized. The performing arts market needs to recognize the importance of its audience and to apply appropriate marketing techniques. This study attempted to empirically identify the value of performing arts perceived by the audience and to investigate the influence of the relationship between the perceived value, attitude formation and satisfaction with performing arts. In order to examine the influence of the value of performing arts on attitude and customer satisfaction, a reliability analysis and factor analysis were conducted to investigate the dependability and validity of the measured variables. In order to achieve the study's intended purpose, the structural equation model (SEM) was utilized as the core analysis method. As a result, it was found that the perceived value and attitude towards performing arts have a positive effect on customer satisfaction. The results of this study are expected to be used as the basic data for organizations that plan performances to improve their marketing and promotion around the audience and for more specific and detailed research in the future.

• Review of Culture and Economy
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.129-161
• /
• 2017

Korea's entertainment industry laid its foundation in the early 2000s when global popularity of South Korean soap operas increased in Japan. K-pop has been recently leading the popularity in China. However, many Korean entertainment businesses are dying out. This study reviews factors influencing business survival for 42 chosen corporations listed in the Korea Stock Exchange based on organizational ecology. When all of the variables are analyzed at the same time, long period of public offering and high wages and global sales ratio positively affect business survival. When the individual variables are separately analyzed, long period of public offering and CEO incumbency and high wages and global sales ratio positively affect business survival. Meanwhile, size of businesses do not affect the survival. The results of this study imply that policies to help businesses list an entertainment corporation in the Korea Stock Exchange, increase sales and reciprocity with other culture are needed. Laws and institutions for evaluating intangible asset value should be improved. The results also suggest that a corporation should carefully consider change of CEO and make the best use of the popularity of Korean culture to increase global sales and pay competitive wages to attract professionals.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.21 no.10
• /
• pp.286-308
• /
• 2021

For a long time, dramas that everyone has enjoyed at home have become the most popular cultural contents due to the development of digital technology and the influence of Hallyu.(Korean Wave) This study was conducted in-depth interviews and participatory observations on the background, role, identity, and labor experience of TV planning producers who appeared in the drama production process with the implementation of outsourcing production policy in 1991. The number of dramas produced increased sharply in the mid-2000s due to the Korean Wave. Against this backdrop, the planning producer has expanded their scope in the drama production process and emerged as a new drama producer. The planning producer plays a role in creating an environment in which writers and directors can be selected with the identity of "not a creator but a producer of dramas" and lead drama planning. OTT and watching TV on the Internet have made it possible to watch dramas without TV. As this phenomenon accelerates and becomes commonplace, fewer consumers adhere to the traditional way of watching dramas using TV, and consumers' emotional tastes become more demanding. In this environment, TV planning producers are leading the production of dramas, exerting as much influence as writers and directors. They are also building new power relationships among drama producers by securing planning and financial power.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this study is to identify trends and potential themes of research on consumption of children and adolescents for 20 years by analyzing keywords. The keywords of 869 studies on consumption of children and adolescents published in journals listed in Korean Citation Index were analyzed using text mining techniques. The most frequent keywords were found in the order of youth, youth consumers, consumer education, conspicuous consumption, consumption behavior, and character. As a result of analyzing the frequency of keywords by dividing into five-year periods, it was confirmed that the frequency of consumer education was significantly higher betwn 2006 and 2010. Research on ethical consumption has been active since 2011, and research has been conducted on various topics instead of without a prominent keyword during the most recent 5-year period. Looking at the keywords based on the TF-IDF, the keywords related to the environment and the Internet were the main keywords between 2001 and 2005. From 2006 to 2010, the TF-IDF values of media use, advertisement education, and Internet items were high. From 2011 to 2015, fair trade, green growth, green consumption, North Korean defector youths, social media, and from 2016 to 2020, text mining, sustainable development education, maker education, and the 2015 revised curriculum appeared as important themes. As a result of topic modeling, eight topics were derived: consumer education, mass media/peer culture, rational consumption, Hallyu/cultural industry, consumer competency, economic education, teaching and learning method, and eco-friendly/ethical consumption. As a result of network analysis, it was found that conspicuous consumption and consumer education are important topics in consumption research of children and adolescents.