THAI CONSUMER VALUES TOWARDS KOREAN RESTAURANTS IN BANGKOK, THAILAND

Abstract

Nowadays, people can easily find Korean restaurants in Bangkok, Thailand. As the popularity of Korean wave has led to an in increasing of Korean food consumption in Thailand. There are several Korean restaurants in Thailand that became popular due to their association with Korean culture and it led to the increase of Thai consumers’ attention towards Korean cultures. The purposes of this study are to study consumer values of Thai consumers towards Korean restaurants, to investigate the relationship between consumer values, familiarity and affective country image and consumers attitudes toward dining at a Korean restaurant, and to study the consumer attitudes associate to intention to dine in Korean restaurant. This study uses a quantitative method and will gather the data from 150 samples. They must have experienced dining in a Korean restaurant in Bangkok. According to the key findings, consumer values have a positive impact to the attitude towards Korean restaurant. The most important of consumer values’ variables are ranked from quality value, emotional values, epistemic values, aesthetic values, economic values and social values. From the hypothesis results of multiple regression analysis consumer values, familiarity and affective image of the country have positive impact to the attitude towards Korean restaurant. And the attitude also leads to positive affect to intention to dine in Korean restaurant. This paper can help the audiences understand the Thai consumer values towards Korean restaurant including the influential factors that impact their purchase decision. And it will be beneficial for Thai and Korean restaurant owners to improve the business strategies.