What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to explore how motivations for watching Korean dramas affect Chinese consumers' intention to buy cosmetics.

April 3, 2026Open Access

Korean Drama Viewing and Cosmetics Purchase Intention: A Chinese Consumer Data Analysis Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model

Key Points

This research aims to explore how motivations for watching Korean dramas affect Chinese consumers' intention to buy cosmetics.
Analyzed 458 valid consumer responses using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM).
Examined five motivation dimensions: Cultural Curiosity, Drama Appeal, Cultural Proximity, Interpersonal Influence, and Viewing Habits.
Assessed two mediating variables: Korean Cultural Affinity and Korean Visitation Intention.
Cultural Curiosity has the strongest effect on Korean Cultural Affinity with a coefficient of 0.318.
Interpersonal Influence significantly impacts Korean Visitation Intention with a coefficient of 0.400.
Korean Cultural Affinity notably influences purchase intention more than Korean Visitation Intention, with coefficients of 0.501 and 0.256 respectively.
The model explains 49.5% of variance in purchase intention.

Abstract

This paper investigates Korean drama viewing motivation's impact on Chinese consumers' cosmetics purchase intention using PLS-SEM with 458 valid responses.Five motivation dimensions (Cultural Curiosity, Drama Appeal, Cultural Proximity, Interpersonal Influence, Viewing Habits) were examined through two mediating variables: Korean Cultural Affinity and Korean Visitation Intention.All twelve hypotheses were significant.Cultural Curiosity demonstrated the strongest effect on Korean Cultural Affinity ( = 0.318), while Interpersonal Influence most impacted Korean Visitation Intention ( = 0.400).Notably, Korean Cultural Affinity exhibited greater influence on purchase intention ( = 0.501) than Korean Visitation Intention ( = 0.256), revealing that cultural connection supersedes travel interest in driving cosmetics consumption.The model achieved 49.5% explanatory power for purchase intention variance.This research fills a gap by identifying specific consumption mechanisms beyond general Korean Wave influence offering strategic insights for Korean cosmetics brands targeting Chinese markets.

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