The Attraction of Korea : An empirical study on how country-of-origin affects consumers' perception and purchase intentions of Korean beauty products.

Abstract: The Korean Wave has taken the world by storm and Korean beauty (K-beauty) has in extension to this become a global phenomena. K-beauty has reached this popularity with the help of authentic and natural ingredients and a combination between tradition and modernity creating a competitive advantage on the market. Despite this popularity a lack of research has been identified on how the “​Made in Korea”​ label affects consumer’s perception of Korean products and in specific K-beauty products. The current study addressed this opportunity in examining how consumers perceive K-beauty products in addition to country-of-origin affects their purchase intention. To examine this a qualitative approach was taken consisting of 11 email interviews with millennial women residing in Sweden. The empirical data derived from the interviews was divided into four themes (1) Made in Korea, (2) Image, (3) Quality and (4) Effect. The findings were then analyzed in regards to the country-of-origin effect (COE) and previous research on the topic. The results identify two main attributes as driving factors in consumer perception of K-beauty products on the Swedish market. These two attributes are image and quality. Korea was in this study found to carry a strong cognitive country image (CCI) and is as a result perceived to be on the forefront of the beauty industry creating an attraction towards Korean products. Although K-beauty is found to be driven by the CCI a connection to the Korean Wave and an affective country image (ACI) is found creating a separation in the country image. This was further found to suggest that the Korean Wave facilitates the spread of Korean culture through all Korean products. Future research directions are additionally discussed.