The Impact of Korean-Style Political Aesthetics on Trust and Engagement Among Thai Undergraduate Students
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This study examines how Korean-style political aesthetics, shaped by Hallyu soft visual identities and idol-like personas, influence political trust and engagement among Thai undergraduate students. Drawing on visual politics, processing fluency, and soft power theories, the research addresses a gap in Southeast Asian scholarship regarding the political impact of transnational cultural aesthetics at the individual level. A cross-sectional survey of 400 students in Bangkok used validated scales to measure Hallyu consumption, perceptions of political aesthetics, political trust, and political engagement. Data were analyzed with t-tests, ANOVA, and multiple linear regression. Results revealed a Gender Paradox: Females reported significantly higher Hallyu consumption and aesthetic recognition, yet gender did not predict political trust when controlling for aesthetic perception. Instead, perceived Korean-style aesthetics emerged as the strongest driver of trust (β = .229, p < .001), functioning as a universal marker of modernity. Academic discipline moderated outcomes, with medical and health sciences students showing highest trust and science/engineering students the lowest. Political trust strongly predicted engagement (β = .344, p < .001), indicating that aestheticized politics can mobilize Gen Z voters beyond passive consumption. These findings suggest Korean-style aesthetics serve as cognitive shortcuts that operate alongside, rather than replace, traditional predictors of political behavior.
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