A study on the network effectiveness of sustainable k-fashion and beauty creator media (Social media) in the digital era

Abstract

With the convergence of various media in the digital era, the influence of Korean fash-ion/beauty on popular culture is growing rapidly. This study examines the sustainable relationship between the content and community characteristics of Korean fashion/beauty creator media, the associated social exchange relationships, and the effectiveness of the network among international consumers. In total, 614 international consumers who had made Korean fashion product purchases, viewed Korean fashion creator media, and shared information related to Korean fashion at least once were selected as a sample. Frequency analysis, reliability and validity analysis, measurement model analysis, and path analysis were conducted using SPSS and AMOS. The results showed that, first, content uniqueness had a significant effect on perceived similarity, although content continuity did not. In addition, content uniqueness and content continuity both had a significant effect on emotional expectations. Second, community scalability and community cohesion both had a significant effect on perceived similarity, and community scalability and community cohesion had a significant effect on emotional expectations. Third, perceived similarity had a significant effect on both emotional expectation consciousness and parasocial interaction, and emotional expectation consciousness had a significant effect on parasocial interaction. Finally, parasocial interaction had a significant effect on fad-like behavior. Through this, this study expanded the scope of academic research by linking the contents and community characteristics of Korean fashion/beauty creator media with research problems in the field of social exchange from the perspective of network effec-tiveness. Integrating this with the existing studies on consumer acceptance of Hallyu culture is ex-pected to lead to the development of a more descriptive theoretical model for the formation of atti-tudes and purchase intentions toward Korean fashion/beauty products. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.