Abstract:
The studys purpose was three-fold: (a) to examine Thai fans self-concept given their participation as the fan clubs of Girls Generation musical artists a South Korean girl group, in Thailand; (b) to investigate the consumption of signs of the products related to musical artists group; and (c) to investigate the relationship between Thai fans self-concept and the products consumption. Driven by qualitative approach, the study employed in-depth interviews with 30 leaders and members of Korean musical artists and the participants were selected using purposive sampling techniques. Data were collecting from October through December, 2016. Results revealed that after exposing to musical artists work, Thai fans changed their self-concept, both actual self-image and ideal self-image. For the consumption of signs of the products related to the musical artists group, results revealed that Thai fans indicated that four types of the products they were likely to purchase, i.e., products made by the artists agency company (official goods); products that fan clubs produced and sold among fans; pirated products; and local-global product brands that employed to Girls Generation to be a presenter or brand ambassador. Four logics of consumption occurred among four product types. Regarding the relationship between Thai fans self-concept and the products consumption, results revealed that Thai fans tended to accept and display favoritism toward the Girls Generation musical artists capabilities and physical attractiveness, then they were likely to imitate the artists in terms of actions, the way of thinking and lifestyle in daily lives. Specifically, they began to buy the products related to the musical artists to response their actual-self congruence and ideal-self congruence. Their motivations to buy the products were to serve their self-consistency motivation, self-esteem motivation, social-consistency motivation and social approval motivation.