지역캐릭터 관광기념품의 브랜드이미지와 구매의도 간 관계

Abstract

Local governments of the Republic of Korea want to reinvigorate regional economy by attracting tourists through highlighting its differentiation from other parts of the country which taps into the region's cultural characteristics. In this light, a lot of studies have been conducted with various perspectives related to plans to use regional characters, created out of the region's cultural content with a view to turning the region into a brand, as tools for promoting the region at home and abroad. Still, there is no sufficient systematic and empirical research to elucidate the effects that regional characters, which influence the activation of the regional economy, exert on the intention to purchase related tourist products. Accordingly, this study wants to survey the relationships between the brand images for the regional characters in Japan and South Korea, where regional characters are used not as means but as end to reinvigorate the regional economy, and the intention to purchase related tourist products. The purpose of the study is to survey the relationships between the brand images for the regional characters in South Korea and Japan and the intention to purchase related tourists products. For this purpose, targeting the Korean and Japanese tourists, the study aims to identify the factors that establish the character of Jejudo as the regional brand by elucidating the factors of the brand images of the regional characters that influence the intention to purchase related tourist products, and present future directions and implications. The study conducted a questionnaire-based survey with total 300 Korean or Japanese tourists at Jeju, Gimpo, and Incheon International Airport for 11 days from Apr. 29 through May 9, 2017. Total 300 copies of the questionnaire (100%), 150 of them for Korean and 150 of them for Japanese respondents, were collected and put to an empirical analysis. The statistical solution used for the empirical analysis is SPSS 20.0. Frequency analysis was used to perform a basic analysis of the general characteristics of the data. To test the internal consistency, reliability analysis with Cronbach's alpha was employed. To test the validity, exploratory factor analysis was performed with Varimax rotation, and multiple linear regression analysis was performed to test the hypothesis of the study. The analysis in this study has come up with the following results. First, the analysis of the influences that the brand images of the regional characters in Japan exerted on the intention to purchase related tourist products, which was performed with Korean respondents with respect to hypotheses 1 to 3, showed that extroversion and modernity, among other factors of the brand images of the regional characters, influenced the intention to purchase. Second, the analysis of the influences that the brand images of the regional characters in South Korea exerted on the intention to purchase related tourist products, which was performed with Japanese respondents with respect to hypotheses 4 to 6, showed that extroversion, modernity, and traditionality, among other factors of the brand images of the regional characters, influenced the intention to purchase. Third, the test of the hypotheses confirmed that extroversion and modernity, among other factors of the brand images, influenced the intention to purchase related tourist products, which provides the grounds that they are factors that should be highlighted in developing the regional character of Jejudo. The study has identified the factors of the brand image that influence the intention to purchase tourist souvenirs carrying regional characters as suggested by the relationships between the brand images of tourist souvenirs carrying regional characters and the intention to purchase. If this is applied in redeveloping the regional character of Jejudo and the regional character is established as the icon of regional branding, expansion of related tourist souvenirs will be of actual help in reinvigorating the regional economy.