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

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 investigate 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 comparison of other ethnic groups will be helpful for establishing different marketing strategies according to the different cohorts with different consumption patterns.     

Audience involvement and film tourism experiences: Emotional places, emotional experiences

This study attempted to investigate the extent to which audience involvement or engagement with a serialised TV drama affects their actual on-site film tourism experiences at its former filmed locations. As an empirical study, an on-site survey was conducted at Daejanggeum Theme Park, the main filmed location of Jewel in the Palace, known in Korean as Daejanggeum, in Yangjoo, South Korea. The results indicated that audience’s emotional and behavioural involvement was the main driver that positively affected their on-site film tourism experiences. Cognitively oriented audience involvement including cognitive interaction and critical reflection, however, was not considered as one of the major vehicles to construct and influence audience viewing experiences and their subsequent on-site film tourism experiences. The results also identified that the more emotional involvement audience develops through viewing the TV drama, the greater the likelihood of them visiting film tourism locations.     

An Empirical Examination of the Antecedents of Film Tourism Experience: A Structural Model Approach

This study aims to empirically examine the antecedents of film tourism experience associated with a serialized TV drama. Drawing on film tourism and media-communication studies, a theoretical model for the causal interrelationship between production values of the TV drama, audience involvement with it, and film tourism experience at its filmed location was tested empirically using structural equation modeling (SEM) methodologies. Responses were drawn from a cross-sectional data sample of international visitors via a survey executed at Daejanggeum Theme Park in Korea. The results indicate that production values and audience involvement have a direct, positive impact on film tourism experience. Moreover, the production values have a mediating, positive impact on film tourism experience through the audience involvement construct.     

Reality TV,audience travel intentions,and destination image

Film/TV induced-tourism research has proliferated in recent decades. Nevertheless, there is a lack of cross-disciplinary academic investigation into audiences' psychological processing of film tourism. In this study, the relationships and intervening mechanisms between audience involvement and tourist behavioral intentions were examined. Hypotheses were tested on a sample of 355 respondents, with the use of structural equation modeling and bootstrapping analysis. A popular reality show “Where are we going, Dad?” was the focus of our study. The empirical results indicate that audience involvement influences tourists' behavioral intentions through the mediating role of cognitive and affective images. The findings contribute to an improved understanding of how audience involvement affects tourist behavioral intentions, and the extent to which destination image mediates the relationship. Practical implications of using reality TV shows for marketing are drawn from the findings of our study.     

The Influence of a TV Drama on Visitors’ Perception: A Cross-Cultural Study

The goal of this study is to assess the effects the Korean food featured on the Korean TV drama series Daeganggeum has on the perceptions of national image and intention to visit Korea by residents of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand. Estimates of structural equation models are used for samples from the three countries to produce information for comparing relationships between variables: on preferring Korean food, the national image of Korea, and the intention to visit Korea for food tourism. The results show similarities and differences between the three national groups. Virtually identical models are found for Hong Kong and Taiwan groups. However, the comparison of Hong Kong and Taiwan groups to the Thailand group demonstrate differences. Specifically, in the Thai sample, distinctiveness of Korean food culture significantly increases the intention to visit Korea for food tourism. All three national groups demonstrate that a strong relationship exists between the national image of Korea and the intention to visit Korea for food tourism.     

Film Tourism Town and Its Local Community

This study was designed to identify the relationships between place attachment, residents’ perceptions of tourism effects, and their attitudes toward tourism developments in the context of film tourism destination. A main survey was conducted at seven representative TV drama/film production towns in Korea. Among various findings, both the local communities’ beliefs about local development through the construction of TV drama/film production towns and their attachment to the communities had a significant positive effect on support for the development of film tourism. In addition, beliefs about local development significantly contributed to explaining the level of local community support for the development of a film tourism destination. Local communities’ beliefs also positively and significantly affected attachment to these communities. Interestingly, perceived negative social and environmental effects of film tourism did not indicate statistical causal relationships with the local residents’ beliefs about local development because residents may not tend to consider negative social or environmental effects seriously.     

The Role of Physical Environment in Leisure Service Consumption: Evidence From a Ski Resort Setting

Despite the importance of physical environment in hedonic service consumption, little is known about the extent to which physical environment influences ski resort visitors’ cognition, emotion, and behaviors. This study investigated the relationships among physical environmental stimuli (i.e., layout accessibility, aesthetics, cleanliness, and other visitors), perceived quality of physical environment, excitement, and behavioral intentions in ski resort. This study also attempted to test the moderating role of enduring involvement in the formation of behavioral intentions. Results showed that cleanliness and other visitors significantly and positively influenced visitors’ perceived quality of physical environment and excitement. The results suggest that physical environment is of great importance for the ski resort business. Perceived quality was indeed a significant predictor of excitement, which, in turn, positively influenced behavioral intentions. Finally, the study found that the effect of excitement on behavioral intentions was significant across high and low enduring involvement groups.     

The Effect of Healthy Food Knowledge on Perceived Healthy Foods’ Value,Degree of Satisfaction,and Behavioral Intention: The Moderating Effect of Gender

ABSTRACT

This study seeks to determine how knowledge about healthy food impacts its perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioral intention among college students to access healthy foods, and to investigate the moderating effect of gender on the formulated relationships. The results show that knowledge about healthy food positively influences perceived value and behavioral intentions, and perceived value is a significant predictor of satisfaction and behavioral intentions toward healthy foods. In addition, knowledge about healthy food does not significantly influence on satisfaction in this study. The results regarding the moderating effects of gender show that gender only moderates the relationship between satisfaction and behavioral intentions toward healthy foods. These results offer useful information for foodservice companies and educational institutions; more specifically, for gaining a better understanding of college students’ behaviors and perceptions toward healthy foods and developing marketing strategies accordingly.     

The relationships among overall quick-casual restaurant image,perceived value,customer satisfaction,and behavioral intentions

The purpose of this research is to explain the relationships among overall quick-casual restaurant image, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in the quick-casual restaurant industry. The findings indicate that overall quick-casual restaurant image significantly influences perceived value, and overall quick-casual restaurant image and perceived value had a significant role in influencing customer satisfaction. Additionally, overall quick-casual restaurant image, perceived value, and customer satisfaction are significant predictors of customers’ behavioral intentions. Finally, customer satisfaction can act as a partial mediator in the relationship between overall quick-casual restaurant image/perceived value and behavioral intentions. Furthermore, we discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings and future research ideas.     

Smooth Sailing?: Passengers' Assessment of Cruise Brand Equity

This study proposes and tests the influence of the cruise ship brand equity model on behavioral intentions by utilizing the constructs of brand loyalty, image, awareness, message, and perceived quality. The study found overall that brand loyalty and perceived quality were most influential on the behavioral intentions of cruise passengers. Specifically, repeat purchase intentions, the likelihood of recommending the brand to others, and brand preference were found to be significant in the model. The finding is consistent with extant literature which credits brand loyalty with being the most influential variable on cruise passenger's behavioral intentions. Brand image was the most highly correlated construct with behavioral intentions and was found to lack discriminant validity although theory distinguishes the two as separate constructs. The results from this study may be useful to cruise line corporations, particularly in formulating successful marketing campaigns and in encouraging relationship building with customers.     

Assessment of TV Drama/Film Production Towns as a Rural Tourism Growth Engine

Television (TV) drama/film production towns have been mushrooming in Korea to cater for the increasing popularity of film tourism. Most of these towns have been constructed by local governments to stimulate economic development, enhance the image and awareness of the region, and to fulfill the political desires of the local government officials. However, in the last 15 years, 34 towns have been established, which has led to heavy competition for film tourists and in attracting subsequent TV drama and film productions. Consequently, most of the towns are currently experiencing financial difficulties and are exploring effective measures to maintain their popularity. In this study, film tourists' perceptions of TV drama/film production towns were analyzed using a structured survey method. The survey data were analyzed using paired t-tests and importance–performance (I–P) analyses. The results reveal that the film tourists' had different perceptions of the I–P of the products and services provided by the towns. In particular, their perceptions of I–P displayed distinct gap patterns in relation to various socio-demographic and travel-related variables.     

Anticipated guilt and pleasure in a healthy food consumption context

Recognizing the increasing importance of healthiness in food-related businesses, this study attempted to investigate the role of consumers’ affective responses in a healthy food consumption context. To achieve its objectives, this study incorporated anticipated emotional constructs in a decision-making model and investigated the relationships among perceived healthiness, anticipated guilt and pleasure, and behavioral intentions (e.g., purchase, spreading positive word-of-mouth, and recommending the food) in a quick service restaurant setting. The results of this study suggest that anticipated pleasure positively influenced behavioral intentions and mediated the relationship between perceived healthiness and behavioral intentions, whereas anticipated guilt did not influence behavioral intentions. Additionally, this study investigated the moderating role of dietary concerns in consumers’ decision-making processes and found that the low dietary concerns group was more susceptible to anticipated pleasure compared to the high dietary concerns group. Further findings and implications are provided in the main body of the paper.     

Green purchase and sustainable consumption: A comparative study between European and non-European tourists

This research aims to investigate tourists' sustainable consumption values and choice behaviour regarding green products in Europe by integrating the Theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and consumption values (TCV). This study also compares the decisions of European and non-European tourists to purchase green products and services while travelling in some selected European cities. A total number of 720 useable questionnaires were collected from residents of two tourist groups in Europe. PLS-SEM, MGA, and other newly developed advanced analysis methods were applied to test the model and hypotheses. Findings reveal that environmental attitudes, environmental knowledge, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, conditional value, and emotional value have a significant positive relationship with green purchase intentions for European and non-European tourist groups. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical study that broadly provides a theoretical framework for green purchase choice and sustainable consumption intention in Europe. The theoretical and practical contributions to tourists' purchasing green products are discussed.     

The effects of dining atmospherics: An extended Mehrabian–Russell model

This study examined the relationships among dining atmospherics, emotional responses, perceived value, and behavioral intentions, using Chinese restaurants as its research setting. Results of the study revealed that dining atmospherics had significant effects on customers’ positive emotions, negative emotions, and perceived value. Further, both positive and negative emotions and perceived value also influenced customers’ post-dining behavioral intentions. Perceived value not only functioned as the greatest contributor to behavioral intentions but also mediated the relationship between emotional responses and behavioral intentions. Positive emotions and negative emotions had asymmetric effects on perceived value. Positive emotions showed a stronger capability in predicting perceived value. Chinese restaurant managers must utilize the effects of restaurant atmospherics to improve customers’ perceived value of the restaurant and their revisit intentions. Other practical implications are discussed as well.     

Local foods in a university setting: Price consciousness,product involvement,price/quality inference and consumer's willingness-to-pay

The current study looks at the relationship between price consciousness, product involvement, price/quality inference, and consumer's willingness-to-pay related to local foods in a university foodservice environment. The study develops a model that looks at the above relationships as well as the potential moderating factor of perceived product information to determine what role they play in the willingness-to-pay for locally grown products. A survey of 352 students at a large, southeastern U.S. university foodservice operation asked about the role of the above factors in choosing local foods. The study found there were significant relationships between product involvement, price consciousness, and price/quality inference on willingness-to-pay, although perceived product information did not moderate the relationships. Ensuring that customers have sufficient information regarding local products and increasing emotional interest in the local products specifically will help to increase willingness-to-pay for those products. Implications for academics and university foodservice practitioners are discussed.     

Event Quality,Perceived Value,Destination Image,and Behavioral Intention of Sports Events: The Case of the IAAF World Championship,Daegu, 2011

This study proposes a conceptual model to investigate visitors' perceptions of an event's quality according to value and the destination image, and visitors' resulting behavioral intentions in the context of a mega-sports event. This study also examines whether or not perceived value and destination image determine visitors' future behavioral intentions. Using structural equation modeling analysis, this study determines that an event's quality and its perceived value have a significant effect on behavioral intentions. Moreover, perceived value exerted a direct influence on behavioral intentions, and destination image determined visitors' perceptions of value. However, the impact of destination image had an insignificant effect on behavioral intentions. The implications have merit for academic researchers and sports event organizers.     

The information quality and source credibility matter in customers’ evaluation toward food O2O commerce

This study examines customer’s decision making when purchasing food product through O2O commerce applying the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and the technology acceptance model (TAM). Further, this research investigates which information processing path, central route (information quality) or peripheral route (source credibility), is related to purchase frequency. Results of the data analysis demonstrate (1) the positive relationship between information quality, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use; (2) the significant relationship between source credibility, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use; (3) the significant influence of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on customer trust; and (4) the significant relationships among customer trust, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. In addition, customers with high purchase frequency tend to process messages via the central route, while customers with low purchase frequency focus on the peripheral route. These findings provide theoretical and managerial implications that contribute to O2O commerce marketing.     

The Influence of Reviewer Demographic Information Provision on Trust and Purchase Intent for Users of Online Websites

E-commerce websites are increasingly interested in how to effectively utilize online reviews to positively influence consumer decisions. One potential mechanism is providing socio-demographic information about reviewers along with the reviews. This study investigates how consumer decision outcome variables (e.g., perceived usefulness, trust and purchase intent) change when reviewers’ age and gender are provided and when a consumer’s and reviewer’s age/gender are same or similar. The hotel industry was utilized as the context. The results from the experiment showed that, regardless of the compatibility of the provided demographic information (reviewers’ vs. consumers’), providing reviewers’ age and gender positively impacted consumers’ perceived online trust, and about half of the participants processed and remembered the demographic information. It was additionally noted that people who could remember reviewers’ demographic information had not only more trust in the reviewer, the specific company’s website, and the specific hotel itself, but also higher intention to recommend and book the hotel.     

Destination Image of Taiwan From the Perspective of Hong Kong Residents: Revisiting Structural Relationships Between Destination Image Attributes and Behavioral Intention

Destination image plays an important role in how tourists make their travel and purchase decisions. This study examines the perceived image of Taiwan as a travel destination from the perspective of Hong Kong residents. The Hong Kong outbound tourism market is important for Taiwan. Using a self-completed questionnaire, this research examines the destination image of Taiwan among 213 Hong Kong residents. The results indicate that affective image is a stronger predictor of travel intention than cognitive image. Affective image also plays a mediating role in the relationship between cognitive image and behavioral intention. Hence, affective image is an important intangible quality for today’s destinations.     

Destination Image and Behavior Intention of Travelers to Thailand: the Moderating Effect of Perceived Risk

This study examined the influence of destination image and overall satisfaction toward behavioral intention of travelers to Thailand. The results found that destination image dimensions of quality of hotels and restaurants and cultural and natural attractions significantly influenced overall satisfaction. In addition, overall satisfaction had a positive effect on behavioral intention. This study further investigated the moderating effect of perceived risk on the relationship between overall satisfaction and behavioral intention. Travelers with low perceived risk of these natural disasters had a tendency for greater positive destination image, overall satisfaction, and behavioral intention than travelers with high perceived risk.