Why to join ASEAN-Korea online exchange program? The case of Vietnam students

Abstract

For more than 30 years of cooperation, ASEAN and Korea have organized many cultural exchange programs to promote cultural understanding among the youth and strengthen mutual collaboration. Before, these programs used to be organized in offline mode in ASEAN countries or Korea. However, the recent Covid-19 pandemic has been raging around the world, which requires a change in how these programs operate. All cultural exchange programs have to switch to online instead of offline due to travel difficulties and concerns about medical safety. This change in the form of operation dramatically influences the participation intention of the youth in ASEAN and Korea, including Vietnamese students. This study, thus, aims to investigate factors affecting the intention of Vietnamese students to join the ASEAN-Korea online exchange program. Accordingly, there are four factors affecting the intention to participate in ASEAN-Korea online exchange programs: while the program quality, personal development, and cultural interest positively affect the participation intention, the attendance cost has a negative impact on students' intention. Among the four factors mentioned previously, the program quality has the most significant positive influence. Importantly, there is no difference in the intention of participating among students of different age groups and genders in Vietnam. As the number of ASEAN-Korea online exchange programs for young people is now quite low, it is necessary to have more and more such programs in the future and it is recommended that ASEAN-Korea online exchange programs be promoted mainly through Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and the like. In addition, the program quality should take the highest priority when designing programs to encourage Vietnamese students to attend ASEAN-Korea online exchange programs more.