A cross-sectional study to explore the association between parasocial interaction and big five personality traits toward K-wave/Hallyu.

Background: Hallyu or Korean wave (K-wave) is the term used to describe diffusion and export of South Korean popular culture into the global market and includes music (K-pop), TV shows (K-drama), cuisine (K-cuisine), video games, and cartoons. The fandom for K-wave is increasing, but there is limited understanding on its parasocial relationships, personality traits, and media immersion (transportation) in the Indian context.

Aim: To explore the relationship between parasocial behavior, big five personality traits, and transportation among young adult K-wave fans.

Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted using Google forms, distributed through various social media platforms using the snowball technique with a sample size of 204 between ages 15 and 35 years. The scales used are Measure of Parasocial Relationships, Big five personality inventory, and Transportation scale - short form.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 23.9 years. The majority were introduced by their friends (55.4%); the common platform for accessing the content is YouTube (42.6%). There was statistically significantly higher parasocial relationship exhibited by the female participants in all domains, except in the behavioral domain of MMPR. There was also a statistically significant moderate positive correlation between parasocial behavior and transportation.

Conclusion: The study offers insightful information on the ways that personality qualities and K-wave content consumption affect parasocial interactions between Korean wave enthusiasts in India.