PROLIFERATION OF HALLYU WAVE AND KOREAN POPULAR CULTURE ACROSS THE WORLD: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW FROM 2000-2019

Abstract

The exponential growth in the popularity of Korean pop cultural products across the globe known as the Hallyu wave has grabbed the attention of people worldwide. At times when the geographic boundaries have become blurred due to the virtual connectivity and advancement in internet technology, South Korean popular culture is developing at an unprecedented rate across the globe. The popularity is such that it has entered the mainstream even competing with the Hollywood films, dramas and music. The field of Hallyu though has attracted many from academia, as it is still a newer research area, not many significant attempts have been made to review the literature in a systematic manner. The major objective of this paper is to acquire a better understanding, and a detailed review of the research regarding Hallyu wave, its allied areas, current status and trends. Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is the method used for this paper. This research has utilized the methods presented by Junior & Filho (2010), Jabbour (2013) and Seuring (2013). The researchers have deployed a systematic literature review approach to collect, analyze and synthesize data regarding the Hallyu wave, addressing a variety of topics using Google Scholar between 2000 and 2019 and selected 100 primary research articles. From the systematic literature review, the results or main gaps from the existing literature have been uncovered. For example, most of the low-income countries do not have extensive research on Hallyu or most of the research on Hallyu is done in the region of East Asia and the Pacific.