The Globalization of Hallyu Phenomenon: Impact on Malaysian Young Female's Attitude and Behaviour

Abstract

Hallyu phenomenon is a globalized cultural product from South Korea that has spread uncontrollably into many parts of the world, and Malaysia was no exception. With the aid of media and the internet, the domination of its significant products such as K-drama, K-pop music, K-Food, K-Beauty, and technology brands left an indisputable impact on society. Hallyu's wide acceptance in Malaysia, however, received backlash from the anti-Hallyu group who criticized it for degrading the value of Malaysian culture, specifically targeting young females in Malaysia for their "obsession" with this foreign culture. This paper aimed to study the relationship between the globalization of Hallyu phenomenon and young females in Malaysia. It employed a quantitative method to explore the impact of Hallyu on young females' attitudes and behaviour by distributing online surveys to 300 targeted respondents with prior knowledge regarding the topic. The findings showed that the most popular Hallyu cultural product is K-Pop, which consequently further influenced their attitude and behaviour towards other Hallyu products. The success of Hallyu culture among young females in Malaysia owed a lot to the internet and social media as the tools to disperse information, hence shaping their thoughts, attitudes and behaviour on the issue. The results also noted a few behavioural changes among the respondents in terms of time and money spent on Hallyu products. Overall, this study suggested that most respondents have a positive attitude towards Hallyu and that any behavioural changes were still within their control, hence denying the claim of "obsession" and "degrading one's cultural value" as claimed by the anti-Hallyu group.