An Analysis of influence of Trust in BTS on ARMY’s BTS Tourism: Moderating Effects of Prior Knowledge of BTS-related Areas

Abstract

This study applied the extended theory of planned behavior to ARMY's attitude and BTS tourism behavioral intentions by suggesting source credibility (attractive, artistic expertise, place expertise, and integrity) and three dimensions of congruence as leading variables. As a result of analyzing a total of 394 valid questionnaire responses, only integrity among the four sources of credibility had a significant effect on congruence. Meanwhile, among the three types of congruence, only BTS-ARMY's congruence had a significant positive (+) effect on BTS tourism attitude. Furthermore, BTS tourism attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control had positive (+) effects on BTS tourism behavioral intentions. Finally, the effect of BTS tourism attitude on behavioral intention was greater in the lower group of prior knowledge of BTS-related areas than in the higher group. This study is meaningful in that it recognized 'BTS tourism' as an important field of K-POP tourism and took an academic approach to the BTS tourism.