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Being a part of a government strategy, South Korea's cultural diplomacy in terms of the Korean Wave promotes South Korean culture around the world. Taking into consideration the popularity of the Korean Wave and the dearth of empirical evidence on the influence of Korean Wave among the Pakistani community, this study analyzes the perceptions of Pakistani students/alumni to understand the widespread popularity of the Korean Wave among them and its influence on them. This study aims to examine the role of service quality by analyzing empirical evidence on the relationships among the Korean Wave, destination image, and behavioral intentions. For this purpose, a quantitative approach was used to collect data from (N = 403) Pakistani students/alumni in Korea. To measure the data, multi-variate techniques were used including reliability, multiple regression, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings showed a positive relationship among all constructs, namely behavioral intentions, the Korean Wave (including cultural products, K-pop, K-dramas, K-sports, tourism and heritage), service quality, and destination image. Indirect effects indicated that service quality mediated the relationship between destination image and the Korean Wave. This study proposes that service quality varies depending upon the involvement of cultural products, K-pop, K-dramas, K-sports, tourism and heritage, and these in turn, influence the behavioral intentions to visit in the future or recommend Korea to others.
Keywords: destination, Korean Wave, service quality, mediation, tourism
Introduction
The significant role of culture has been opened by globalization in modern international politics. Cultural diplomacy is a tool of considerable importance for the transference of culture and national values. In global politics, the cultural dimension plays a dominant role in enhancing the significance of intangible resources (soft power) as opposed to tangible resources (hard power). Under this genre of cultural diplomacy, the global information space has been amplifying the importance of cultural actors in fostering relations between different cultures and states. Cultural diplomacy is used to influence foreign audiences through cultural products. Many states have been taking advantage of its increasing significance. In the case of South Korea (hereafter Korea), the efficacy of cultural diplomacy is due to the growing overseas popularity of the Korean Wave which has been recognized as a part of Korean cultural policies. The government has embraced cultural...