The Impact of Thailand’s Hallyu on the Korean Nation Brand: Focusing on Holistic Thinking Tendency, Multicultural-acceptance, and Hallyu Playfulness

This study explored the impact of Thai consumer characteristics on Korean national brands.Specifically, the study aimed to test the influence of Thai people's holistic thinking tendency, multicultural acceptance, and Hallyu playfulness on their attitudes toward Korea and their intention to visit Korea.The study subjects were students participating in the K-POP Academy organized by the Korean Cultural Center in Thailand.The collected data were subjected to a data coding process, and the SPSS 22.0 program was used to conduct hierarchical regression analysis.As a result of the study, Thai people's holistic thinking tendency, proactiveness, multicultural acceptance, and Hallyu playfulness positively influenced their attitude toward Korea.In contrast, resistance to multicultural acceptance had a negative influence.In addition, while multicultural acceptance, proactiveness, and playfulness of the Hallyu positively influenced the intention to visit Korea, reluctance did not significantly influence attitudes toward Korea and intention to visit Korea.This study presents academic diversity in the Thai market, where Hallyu research is still minimal, and also provides practical implications for program operation for practitioners at Korean Cultural Centers abroad.Additionally, this study can be used as an axis in developing various programs related to K-POP.