Approaches to Dance (3): Naïveté and Curiosity

Part autobiography, memoir, and autoethnography, this essay sketches a pathway that zig-zags and follows switchbacks as it moves from childhood ballet lessons to a profession in academic teaching and research. The path embraces dance notation, Korean dance, movement analysis, history, iconography, aesthetics, language, and communication as it continues beyond university employment into retirement, revealing the evolution of thought processes and the intertwining of the personal and professional.

Brand Personality of Korean Dance and Sustainable Behavioral Intention of Global Consumers in Four Countries: Focusing on the Technological Acceptance Model

Brand personality is a useful tool that forms a favorable brand image and that ultimately builds powerful brand equity. However, there has been insufficient empirical research on the brand personality of Korean dance. In the context of using culture and the arts to support national competitiveness, we examine traditional Korean dance in terms of a potential brand personality that can influence the perceptions of global consumers. We look at how this brand can affect consumer perceptions of how easy it is to learn Korean dances as well as their perceptions of the physical benefits of these dances. The respondents included global consumers who had listened to or watched Korean dance music and videos on TV and the Internet, searched for and watched Korean dance videos on YouTube, and searched for Korean dance information on social media at least once. A survey was conducted over the course of four months, from October 2020 to January 2021, in four countries: South Korea, the USA, the UK, and South Africa. Valid data were obtained from 649 individuals. We conducted an empirical study by applying and integrating the technology acceptance model (TAM) to the brand personality of Korean dance. A structural equation model was used to analyze the responses. The brand personality of Korean dance enhanced its perceived ease of use and its perceived usefulness among global consumers, which led to positive attitudes toward the dances. Furthermore, it led to a sustainable behavioral intention, that is, interest in learning traditional Korean dances. Since no studies have integrated Korean dance into a single brand personality to use it as a cultural asset, this study makes considerable contributions to the literature.