Social Media as Acculturation Agent: Vietnamese Consumers’ Assimilation into South Korean Culture

Abstract

Social media has become a major platform for connecting young Vietnamese consumers to South Korean culture. To understand how Vietnamese consumers learn and adopt the South Korean culture through social media, this study applied the acculturation framework, and tested the role of acculturation agents that provide consumer information and models of consumer behavior. An online panel survey of 400 Vietnamese consumers aged 18–40 years, found that the intensity of social media use positively influenced attitudes toward South Korea. Furthermore, those attitudes toward South Korea increased friendship orientation and language use, leading to assimilation into South Korean culture. By confirming the role of social media in consumers’ assimilation into foreign cultures, the findings extend the acculturation framework from physical relocation to online transmission. It also suggests that a positive attitude toward a specific country through social media is critical to the assimilation process.

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