The Influence of Destination Personality Perceived by Foreign Students on Cultural Appropriation: Mediating Role of Country Image

Abstract

Purpose: The global expansion of Korean Wave has transformed Korea from an importer of cultural content to an exporter. The Korean Wave has also created a positive image of Korea, creating a variety of derived demands. For favorable continuous country image, one of the most important elements is the diversification of target customers for the Korean Wave. This study is checking the relationship between destination personality, country image and cultural appropriation, with subjects of foreign students in Korea. Research design, data, and methodology: In order to verify the hypothesis presented in this study, 201 questionnaires were collected from foreign students in southern Gyeonggi-do province and the data collected were analyzed using Smart PLS 3.0. Results: The results of the study are as follows. First, the destination personality that the international students perceive influence the image richness of country. In particular, the sincerity trait and excitement trait among the destination personality place positive effects in the country image but the conviviality trait does not. Secondly, the country image places positive influence on cultural appropriation. Conclusions: According to the results of this study, the nation and local governments need to approach destination personality to strengthen its image. In particular, it was confirmed that the image becomes more abundant when the sincerity and excitement personalities are stronger and for this, there is the need to actively use factors that can influence excitement or factors that can impact sincerity. For example, tourist attractions like theme parks will be able to influence the excitement of a region and the images of nature will be able to impact the sincerity. Moreover, there is need for the country to check the viewpoints and evaluations of target customers for their image to continuously work so that they can constantly increase positive thoughts of consumers.