Beauty and Celebrity: Korean Entertainment and Its Impacts on Female Indonesian Viewers’ Consumption Intentions

Abstract

The Korean entertainment industry’s popularity and global reach has prompted private companies and destination management organizations to place Korean products and position Korea as a destination to international viewers. Korean celebrities have also been found to form positively perceived Korean beauty standards, consequently serving as an antecedent of Korean beauty product awareness and perceived beauty product quality among international audiences. Although previous studies have found that audience involvement with entertainment mediums has positively impacted product purchase and visitation, a comprehensive investigation of the audience involvement’s multi-dimensionality has yet to be conducted, specifically, on the distinction between Korean entertainment (movies, TV dramas, TV shows, etc.) involvement and celebrity worship. The present study attempts to fill the research gap by comprehensively examining the role of audience involvement with Korean entertainment, celebrity worship, brand awareness, and perceived Korean beauty product quality on product purchase intentions as well as intentions to visit Korea. A total of 327 female Indonesian Korean entertainment audiences then validated the proposed conceptual framework. The structural equation modeling results found emotional involvement, referential reflection, and entertainment-driven celebrity worshipping tendencies to be significant antecedents of Korean beauty product purchase and Korea visit intentions.