TURKISH TV DRAMAS AS A MARKETING TOOL TO PROMOTE IMAGE OF TURKEY AS A TOURIST DESTINATION WITHIN THE AMERICAN CONTINENT By ALI ISKENDER A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE 2018 © 2018 Ali Iskender To my Mom ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, I am very thankful to Dr. Stepchenkova who accepted to be my advisor and the committee chair when I was in a situation trying hard but in vain and sort of disoriented academically. Her small touches made big differences in my academic journey. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Kaplanidou and Dr. Onel to accept to be on my committee. I am thankful to them for their valuable contribution. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 8 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 11 LIST OF TERMS ........................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 15 Overview ................................................................................................................. 15 Why Turkish TV Dramas Loved by the Americans ................................................. 16 The Journey of Turkish TV Series .......................................................................... 18 Need and Rationale for the Study ........................................................................... 19 Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................. 22 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 23 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................... 26 Limitations and Delimitations .................................................................................. 28 Limitations ........................................................................................................ 28 Delimitations ..................................................................................................... 28 Defining the Population ........................................................................................... 29 Organization of the Study ....................................................................................... 29 2 REVIEW OF THE RELEVANT LITERATURE ........................................................ 30 Push Pull Factor Tourist Motivations....................................................................... 30 Audience Involvement............................................................................................. 33 Place Familiarity ..................................................................................................... 36 Destination Image in Film Tourism ......................................................................... 38 Film Tourism ........................................................................................................... 41 Gaps in the Literature ............................................................................................. 47 Summary and Hypotheses ...................................................................................... 48 Mode of Watching (Dubbed or Subtitled).......................................................... 48 Platform of Watching (on TV or on the Internet) ............................................... 49 Genre ............................................................................................................... 50 Audience Involvement, Place Familiarity, and Destination Image .................... 53 3 METHODS .............................................................................................................. 57 Research Design .................................................................................................... 57 Data Collection ....................................................................................................... 57 Instrumentation-Measurement ................................................................................ 60 5 Audience Involvement ...................................................................................... 60 Place Familiarity ............................................................................................... 64 Destination Image ............................................................................................ 65 Behavioral Intentions ........................................................................................ 65 Data Analysis (Statistical) Procedures .................................................................... 67 4 RESULTS ............................................................................................................... 68 Preliminary Descriptive Statistical Analyses ........................................................... 68 RQ-1: MANOVA Results ......................................................................................... 94 Mode and Platform of Watching ....................................................................... 94 Genre ............................................................................................................... 97 RQ-2: Multiple Regression Results ....................................................................... 105 Model 1: Place Familiarity (DV) and Audience Involvement (IV) .................... 107 Model 2: Affective Image (DV) and Aud. Inv. (IVs) and Place Familiarity (IV) 109 Model 3: Cognitive Image (DV) and Audience Inv. (IVs) and Place Familiarity (IV) ............................................................................................. 111 Model 4: Visitation Interest (DV) and Aud. Inv. (IVs), Place Familiarity (IV), and Destination Image (IVs). ....................................................................... 113 Model 5: WoM (DV) and Aud. Inv. (IVs), Place Familiarity (IV), and Destination Image (IVs) ............................................................................... 116 Model 6: Willingness to Pay and Aud. Inv. (IVs), Place Familiarity (IV), and Destination Image (IVs) ............................................................................... 119 5 DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................... 122 Theoretical Implications ........................................................................................ 122 Practical Implications ............................................................................................ 133 Limitations ............................................................................................................. 135 Future Research ................................................................................................... 135 APPENDIX A SUPPLEMENTARY ANALYSES .......................................................................... 138 Country of Origin ................................................................................................... 138 Actors .................................................................................................................... 143 Actresses .............................................................................................................. 148 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 154 B ENGLISH VERSION OF THE SURVEY ............................................................... 156 C SPANISH VERSION OF THE SURVEY ............................................................... 177 D PORTUGUESE VERSION OF THE SURVEY ...................................................... 194 E LETTER OF IRB APPROVAL ............................................................................... 215 6 F DONATION ........................................................................................................... 216 G A PICTURE OF A TRAVEL TO TURKEY ............................................................. 218 H A PICTURE OF LEARNING TURKISH ................................................................. 219 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 220 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 231 7 LIST OF TABLES Table page 4-1 Primary Demographics of Respondents ............................................................. 68 4-2 Secondary Demographics of Respondents ........................................................ 72 4-3 Versions of survey preferred, mode and platform of watching ............................ 73 4-4 Turkish TV Series watched ................................................................................. 74 4-5 Favorite Turkish TV Series ................................................................................. 76 4-6 Descriptive Statistics of Audience Involvement .................................................. 78 4-7 Audience Involvement: Exploratory