The Influence of Turkish TV Dramas on Saudi Consumers’ Perceptions, Attitudes and Purchase Intentions toward Turkish Products

Abstract
The purpose of the present research is to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the influence of Turkish TV drama series on the perception, attitude and purchase intention of Saudi consumers toward clothes made in Turkey. The theoretical contribution of this study is important because it focused on testing the influence of TV dramas from a different angle by testing the influence of Turkish dramas in a different industry, which is apparel. Most related previous studies have tested the influence of TV dramas and films in respect of tourism, by investigating the willingness of audience to visit the places and destinations shown on the screen. Moreover, this study is employing and combining different fields of knowledge such as social psychology and marketing and how we can track the interrelationships and utilize the interdependence between those fields.
Keywords: Turkish Drama, Saudi Audience, Consumer Attitude, Consumer Perception, Purchase Intention

Introduction
U.S films and TV series played a significant role in delivering U.S. culture around the world since the 1960s when widely introduced to Asian countries. Accepting U.S. films and TV series by audiences greatly affected their acceptance of U.S. brands, products, companies and services. This finding is evidence that TV dramas of a particular country significantly change audiences' acceptance of life style, buying habits and brand name preferences. In addition, TV dramas can go beyond that to affect the image and culture of that country. Similarly and due to the increasing number of Asian TV cable stations and satellite since the 1980s, American audiences have shown great interest in Asian culture such as food. The number of viewers watching Asian dramas is increasing worldwide.

The power of TV programs has been mentioned by many studies indicating the influence of TV media on our daily life. TV programs are exceptionally significant and affecting contemporary social life. Some studies have tackled the effect of TV programs on a location from a tourism marketing perspective (Beeton, 2001a, 2005; Busby & Klug, 2001; Connell, 2005a, b; Frost, 2006; Kim & Richardson, 2003; Riley et al., 1998; Riley & Van Doren, 1992; Schofield, 1996; Tooke & Baker, 1996). Viewers who are exposed to a destination attributes by watching films that create a favourable destination image, their preference for that destination can be significantly influenced as suggested by (Butler, 1990). Attitude towards a country can be a result of the knowledge provided by films about certain aspects such as people, culture and nature. According to (Iwashita, 2006), such interest about the nation and its positive image can lead at the end to an actual visit to that country.
During the last decade, Turkish dramas have been widely distributed to other countries and cultures. Using dubbing to different languages, Turkish dramas managed to be exported to many countries in different continents such as Europe, Africa as well as Asia and the Arabian Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman. Despite the dramas being steep in the Turkish culture and history, they became a smash hit in some of these countries.

Interestingly, the popularity of the Turkish dramas is elevating to a higher level of interest in a wide range of fields such as tourism, fashion, music and other cultural products that shown on the TV dramas. Turkish Economic and Social studies Foundation has carried out a survey in 16 Middle Eastern countries, three out of four of those surveyed mentioned they had seen a Turkish drama. In fact, most Turkish TV dramas are available in multiple languages through dubbing or subtitling in order to fit the target country's language. The context of some of the Turkish dramas is appealing to both female and male audiences which help attract different types of advertisers for different types of viewers. The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of Turkish TV-drama series on Saudi consumers and how Saudis perceive the products (exclusively clothes), fashion and styles shown in these drama series, and how the overall perception from these dramas affects the their attitudes to lead to purchase intentions of clothes made in Turkey. The fundamental belief in this study is that Turkish TV dramas have strong influence in creating positive perception and attitude towards Turkish products, clothes in specific, and the influence will continue to grow even further.

The research aims to fulfil the following objectives
- To find out the significance of Turkish TV drama series in influencing the Saudi consumers’ perception, attitudes and purchase intention towards the clothes made in Turkey as this study investigates the perception and attitudes and purchase intention.
- To identify perception and attitude towards product (clothes) stemming from proportional influence by TV drama on country image; political and industrial factors, people, culture, nature and TV drama attributes; story, characters, and language that have the most significant influence on Saudi consumers’ perceptions and attitudes to the clothes made in Turkey.
- To submit the findings of the research and recommendations to the TURQUALITY® project and related clothing industry companies to advise them to consider TV dramas in their marketing strategies.

In the next section, we review the literature of TV influence in respect of perception, attitude and purchase intention, assess the influence and identify the gabs in the literature. We then propose hypotheses based on existing literature, and conclude this paper with the discussion about possible future research.

Literature Review
Television and Advertisement
Television enables advertisers to express and demonstrate ideas to the wide distributed audience. The communication process combines motion, sound, words, colours and personality setting which make it a rich tool for advertising. Advertising has been always influencing the sale of goods and services by inducing an urge to purchase the products and services advertised. Business houses and companies spend a big amount of their budget for advertising activities, thus television advertising has got the essential role among the different advertising mediums in covering these activities (Mathew and Aswathy, 2014).

According to Krishnakumar and Radha (2014), for a high reach to the audiences, television is considered a powerful and a popular medium for information and entertainment. Advertisers have been always considered television advertising the most popular medium since the beginnings of cable television when started to appear in the living rooms. Television advertising increased the opportunity to reach smaller and more targeted markets through songs, news, interviews, comedy and information that attract the largest audience than any other medium. Opportunity to advertise on television has been increased over the past years due to the technical development and the audiences are exposed to hundreds and thousands of commercial messages.

Consumer perception of television programs and its impact on purchase
(Solomon, 2009) defined perception as the process in which people select, organize and interpret senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, texture). Also (Fill, 1995) argues that perception is concerned with how people see and make sense of their environment. As this definition is supported by other authors, (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000) defined perception as the process by which an individual select, organizes and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world. According to (Kotler, 2003) people can have different perceptions about the same stimulus because of three perceptual processes: selective attention, selective distortion and selective retention. Selective attention means that customers screen out most of information they are exposed to, and select what stimuli are important as events occur. Selective distortion means that the customers change the meaning according to their personal connotation, on other words, people interprets information in a way that will support what they already believe. Selective retention means that customers remember those thoughts and feelings which support their attitudes and beliefs and have been rehearsed well in the past. Perception leads to decision making and the decisions to take action or not depends on how you develop motivation (Kotler, 2003).

In relation to this study, it focuses on perception of audience and if it can lead to a particular attitude or actual behaviour consequences. Another affirming study is the cultivation theory as it explains the relationship between the perception of media reality and consequent behaviour of real life. Cultivation theory argues how mass media affect the individual's construction of social reality (Lee, 1989). Hawkins and Pingree (1982) indicated that television viewing cultivates an aspect of social reality. This finding supported other studies that argue television influence and how it exerts the strongest impact on people's everyday lives (Kwak et al., 2002; Lee, 1989; Meyer, 1989). Therefore, cultivation scholars have been arguing the audience elicited consequent behaviours resulted from television viewing, and how these behavioural consequences such as purchasing goods based on cues provided in the media text (Meyer, 1989). Cultivation theory investigates the mass media as a socializing agent, and how television watching influence viewers to believe reality of television the more they watch it. Gerbner (1990) and his colleagues debated the impact of television drama, they indicated the significant influence on viewers' attitudes, beliefs and judgements concerning the social world. They focused on heavy viewers who watch television more than average, those are more likely to be impacted by the depictions of television programs than other individuals who watch less. Light viewers may have more sources of information than heavy viewers. Judith van Evra (1990) argues the role of age and life experience in viewing television, as young viewers may depend on television as a source of information more than other viewers do (van Evra, 1990). However, according to Hawkins and Pingree argue that some children may not experience a cultivation effect at all because they might not understand motives or consequences (van Evra, 1990). In addition, lone viewers are more likely to be subjected to a cultivation effect than those who view with others.

According to Kim et al (2009), cultivation theory is applicable in many cultures despite the majority of studies have been conducted in the USA. Cultivation theory was empirically applied by Lee (1989) in the context of consumer behaviour. Lee studied the consumer acculturation processes with three different cultural groups: Taiwanese, Taiwanese residents in the US and Americans. The study examined the relationship between exposure to mass media and the perception of consumption reality among the three groups, where the cultivation theory was commonly applicable to all of them. In another supporting study by Kwak et al.’s (2002) about the cultivation effect in the US and South Korea, the impact of television content on viewers was indicated. In line with the cultivation theory, social action theory considered the relationship between audience perception and behavioural consequences. According to Meyer (1989) the social action theorists have observed how individuals perceive their surroundings through referencing others in on-going and emerging performance. Anderson and Meyer (1988) explain how individuals' daily social routines, including their daily buying behaviour, are influenced by mediated communication.

TV as Mass Communication
Television is not only an entertainment medium but it has the ability to communicate the norms, rules and values of a society (Zhang and Harwood, 2002). Every aspect of our lives relevant with cultural background such as; politics, history, and human culture, is covered and provided by TV shows. Gerbner and Gross explored the effects of television and dramas in specific on audience perceptions and emotions. They proposed the cultivation theory to explain the effects of television in the long term period. The basic hypothesis of the cultivation theory stipulates that people start to believe in everyday reality as the reality shown on television, the more they watch television the stronger the belief is (Gerbner and Gross, 1976). In the context of the consumer behaviour, O'Guinn et al (1989) as cited by Namdar et al (2013), studied the dynamics of the cultivation theory. They conducted a pilot study to determine the influence of television on the perceptions of consumers. They found that television watching had an impact on consumer beliefs such as happiness and possessiveness. Blumler and Katz (1974) proposed the uses and gratification theory where suggested that audience or media users play an active role in using the media in order to achieve their individual needs. The theory as assumed the media users as goal-oriented has shifted the influence of media communication studies from an effect perspective to an audience perspective. The theory also proposed that users of media have a variety of choices that meet their needs and each media medium can have different functions.
Korean dramas were the first as a study of the effect of television on consumer behaviour. The study focused on consumers from other Asian countries such as Japan, China and Thailand. Korean dramas are most favourite dramas in China and Taiwan (Dator and Seo, 2004). According to (Sora, 2004), the audiences of Korean dramas are willing to buy the products they see. Kim et al., (2009) analysed the effect of the Korean drama called ‘Winter Sonata’ on consumer behaviour. The sample of study was Japanese consumers, where 165 responses collected through a web based survey. The findings confirmed the effect of the drama ‘Winter Sonata’ on the perceptions of the Japanese consumers. Moreover, the drama influenced the buying behaviour of the Japanese consumers of Korean clothing, cosmetics, DVDs of drama and even arranging trips to Korea (Kim et al., 2009).

Influence of Turkish Television Drama
The long running of soap operas and television drama serials may lead an audience to experience feelings of intimacy with drama characters as if they are close friends because of the effect of long exposure to the medium and face to face interaction with media characters. Audiences may often dive in the situation of a drama and react to the characters as if they are real persons in their immediate environment, even if artificially through pretending. The main characters and stars of a television drama may engender a deeper degree of intimacy, continuity or serialization with audiences, thus becoming identifiable, empathetic and discursive to a mass audience (Valaskivi, 2000). Watching episodes on a regular basis can make the relationship more intensified with drama characters. Consequently, audiences invest not only their time in continues watching of drama, but also they make an emotional investment, interest in the characters’ well-being, and become involved in a dialogue by responding to character questions and action. Some audience may go further by collecting memorabilia or trivia about the characters and purchase products related to these media stars such as posters, DVDs, original sound tracks and so forth (Ferguson, 1992).

When audiences reach a degree of identifying with media characters and stars or with some distinctive drama characteristics such as the storyline or the location of filming, then we can call this kind of interaction as emotionally oriented. The emotional/affective interaction not only liking and identifying with a drama characters or celebrities, but also includes the emotional reactions with productions values such as the story, dialogues, situations and even music (Sood, 2002; Sood and Rogers, 2000). Intensive emotional interactions of audiences with drama were found to influence the perception of viewers about dramas as reality, rather than fiction (Sood and Rogers, 2000). In contrast, the degree to which audiences cognitively pay attention to media characters or other distinctive characteristics of a drama is known to be called cognitively oriented interaction. Cognitive oriented interaction is the audiences thinking and analysis of media programs in respect of educational and information content. However, behaviourally oriented interaction is the degree to which audiences talk to, or about, media characters during and after the show, and arranging their schedules to find time for watching (Papa et al., 2000; Sood, 2002; Sood and Rogers, 2000).

According to some media and communication studies, audiences’ involvement is regarded as an important construct of media uses and effects. It is also considered as characteristic of proactive audiences who seek and experience the media with purpose to achieve certain expectations and needs. Many studies have covered the concept of involvement from different perspectives. Rubin and Perse (1987) measured audience involvement with TV news program using co-viewing distractions and cognitive involvement. Kim and Rubin (1997) and Perse (1990) assessed audience involvement with soap opera and TV news respectively by adapting a cognitive elaboration scale. However, early studies of media effects examined audience involvement as a parasocial interaction (Kim and Rubin, 1997; Perse and Rubin, 1988, 1989; Rubin and Perse, 1987; Rubin et al., 1985). Parasocial interaction was regarded as shorthand for the cognitive and affective reactions (Schiappa et al., 2005), interpersonal involvement (Rubin et al., 1985), affective bonds (Kim and Rubin, 1997), and an essential element of audience involvement (Sood and Rogers, 2000).

Horton and Wohl (1956) were the first used the concept of parasocial interactions in an academic paper. They defined it as a one-sided imaginary sense of intimacy by an audience with a media character. Some of the previous studies that have examined parasocial interaction of viewers with soap opera characters like (Kim and Rubin, 1997; Papa et al., 2000; Perse and Rubin, 1988, 1989; Rubin and Perse, 1987b; Sood, 2002; Sood and Rogers, 2000). Some other studies have examined the concept against the television newscasters like Perse, (1990); Rubin et al (1985), and favourite television performers (Rubin and McHugh, 1987). Based on the complex nature of audience involvement related to an active psychological participation in the media content, many recent studies and researches assumes that audience involvement is multidimensional rather than unidimensional, for example; the concept includes affective/emotional, parasocial interaction. Furthermore, some studies assessed parasocial interaction by critical and referential reflection, not only by cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions (Bae and Lee, 2004; Papa et al., 2000; Sood, 2002; Sood and Rogers, 2000). Audience involvement in soap opera was reported in the study of Whetmore and Kielwasser (1983), they indicated several levels of involvement: predicting plot outcomes, attention to fashion, identification with preferred character, and observation of interpersonal dynamics.

The wave of Turkish drama serials began when the MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Centre), a Saudi Private Channel, presented in 2007 the first Turkish series known in Arabic by (Iklil al Ward) which means “Crown of Flowers” in English, and was dubbed in Syrian dialect. MBC then, aired in February 2008 another Turkish drama serial called (Sanawat al Dayaa) in Arabic which means “The Lost Years” at 4 p.m. from Wednesday to Saturday. By April 2008, the growing interest by audience was indicated by press, the presence of TV in most cases (important socializing spots in Arabic countries), drama series downloads including the thematic songs. At the same time and with an efficient marketing strategy and heavy press coverage, MBC launched a new Turkish drama, in Arabic called (Nour) in Turkish as (Gu?mu?s) at 2 p.m. By this addition, audiences were allowed to watch two Turkish series and buzz about them. As a result of noticeable audiences’ interest, MBC timed (Nour) to be at 9:30 p.m. between the popular show of Oprah Winfrey and the daily evening film which is a prime time on MBC4 by the end of April. At that moment of prime time domination of (Nour) with enlarged audience base, Turkish series became similar to signature soap operas (Buccianti, 2010).
Unprecedentedly, and as reported by the MBC channel, viewership exploded to 3 to 4 million viewers per day in Saudi Arabia. According to Mazen Hayek, Director of marketing, PR and Commercial Affairs for the MBC, “85 million viewers (for the Noor series finale) above 15 years of age in the Middle East and North Africa region, out of whom 50 million were female”. He announced the trend of viewership at the Second New Arab Women Forum in Beirut (NAWF). And 76 million viewers for the Turkish drama (Sanawat al Dayaa), with 39 million of them females. The (Nour) series managed to rise up to the top 10 global programs in the Eurodata annual study “One Television year in the world” by Me?diametrie (Buccianti, 2010).

The modern lifestyle that Turkish drama presented seems to be the most appealing to the viewers. Perspectives from the Arabic world see modernity in certain types of gender relations and equality. The role of women in these series reflected women with more freedom in the society compared to the most of Middle Eastern counterparts. Turkish women participate in professional life and have more liberal relations with men. Furthermore, Arab women as viewers have appreciated the character of the romantic male in these series. In addition, the setting of wealth and luxury enjoyed in mansions by the Bosphorus made the series more appealing. Some of the prominent factors due to which Turkish drama is more popular in Saudi, than other TV dramas include these points:
1- Certain cultural codes are mutual to contemporary Arab societies and Turkish society
2- Turkish and Arab cultures are patriarchal, close family ties, and Islam is shared as a religion.
3- The TV dramas are dubbed into Arabic language.

Yigit (2013) comments that, Turkey through television series which is considered one of the cornerstones of Turkish soft power, has managed to introduce to the world the contemporary Turkey. The author adds that the Turkish government also uses actors and actresses from television series to promote its exports to the Middle East. From the Turkish perspective, the immediate outcome of these television series’ popularity is the Arab publics’ perception of contemporary Turkey as modern. Other tangible outcomes are a heightened interest in Turkish culture and language, as well as a growing number of Arab tourists. From the Arab perspective, they gain more insights and awareness about the effects of a secular regime on daily life.

Research Framework
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬Previous studies related to Television programs viewing and TV dramas' influence were reviewed in respect of perception of products and goods. The review aimed to determine related items that can be identified and used to develop the research hypothesis and questionnaire of this study. However, most of the previous studies were about film-induced or product placement and there was a lack of appropriate instruments that directly measure those items relevant to the influence of TV drama on perception of products in general and clothes in specific. In addition, since this study focuses on Turkish TV dramas, there was a need to develop an instrument with study-specific items with references to other similar studies measuring consumer perception, country image, drama attributes, attitudes and purchase intention. The research framework is shown in figure 1. The direct influence of TV drama, or indirect through country image (macro) and drama attributes (micro) are all considered extrinsic cues most relevant to the perception of product (clothes). The direct influence of TV drama is formulated through perception when an audience views a TV drama and sees variety of dresses, fashions and styles used by the characters in that drama series and create attitude and purchase intention. The indirect influence of TV drama is either macro, related to the country image, the audience perception of country image is improved, or micro, related to the drama attributes, the audience is influenced by his/her emotional involvement with the storyline, actor/actress and characters.

Based on the relationship, the hypotheses for this research are as follows:
H1: Saudi consumers’ perception of Turkish TV drama varies based on demographic variables.
H2: There is a positive significant relationship between watching Turkish TV drama and the perception of Turkey image.
H3: There is a positive significant relationship between watching Turkish TV drama and Saudi consumers' involvement with drama attributes.
H4: There is a positive significant relationship between watching Turkish TV drama and the direct perception of Turkish product (clothes).
H5: Positive country image of Turkey which is driven by a Turkish drama significantly influences the perception of Turkish product (clothes).
H6: Positive involvement of Saudi consumers with Turkish drama attributes significantly influences the perception of Turkish product (clothes).
H7: Saudi consumers’ positive perception of Turkish product (clothes) driven by Turkish TV dramas significantly influences the attitude towards clothes.
H8: Positive attitude towards Turkish product (clothes) driven by Turkish TV drama significantly influences the purchase intention of Turkish products (clothes).

Research Methodology
This research utilizes a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. The sample population for quantitative survey is from Saudi people who watch Turkish TV dramas. The survey tool used is self-administered questionnaires. Two phases of data collection were done. The first phase included survey method where data was collected using self-administered questionnaires. The second phase of data was collected through interviews. The interview is divided into two parts; the first included a sample of the respondents who participated in the survey to get more insights with a total of 9 interviewees. The second part included an interview with the representative of the MBC channel, one of the big screens of Turkish dramas in the Arabic world.

A combination of both quantitative and qualitative findings provided a clear understanding into the use of Turkish drama as a marketing tool to promote Turkey and Turkish apparel industry, primarily the impact of Turkish TV drama on the Saudi consumers influencing their perceptions, attitudes and purchase intentions towards Turkish apparel. The research follows a deductive approach as it begins by investigating and studying past studies. The use of literatures helped in designing a research framework, which is used to study the influence track from perception, attitude to purchase intention of Turkish apparel based on the Turkish TV drama.

Figure 1 Research Framework

Questionnaire
The questionnaire used in this research has closed-ended questions where the respondent can choose from the options. In addition to this, the questionnaire follows a pattern of Likert based five-point scale questions. Therefore, consistency is observed throughout the survey. The survey questions have been developed by using information gathered from several articles and published works. Some of these sources have the questionnaire provided separately and some had them discussed within the paper. These sources provided the required information for developing the questionnaire. The questions have been tweaked, modified r adapted to match the study goals and all of the statements in the variables have been designed using the 5-point scale.

Interviews
The interview that is carried out here is a follow-up of findings from the first phase of data that is collected through surveys from Saudi population. Creswell (2007) states that carrying out an interview as a follow-up can be useful either in quantitative or qualitative research methods. Also argues that in some situations, a respondent may not answer the question being asked by the interviewer, but may answer it later in another question. Creswell (2007) asserts the importance for a researcher to construct the interview questions in a way that enhance focus of respondents when answering questions. These kinds of follow-ups are good in scenario such as this research, where data is collected in quantitative method first and the follow-up is done based on the findings. Further, the follow-ups will be only with a few of the respondents from the initial survey research and the other participants are TV producers and promoters of Turkish drama series. Creswell (2007) also adds that researcher needs to be prepared with follow-up questions during the interviews. The interviewer is expected to ensure obtain of optimal responses from interviewees by prompting them through follow-up questions. Therefore, carrying out an interview as a follow-up to assert and strengthen the findings and also to find out more information is a good choice.

Snowballing Technique
Snowballing technique is a sampling method where the researcher distributes the questionnaires to a group of people such as friends, colleagues, relatives and households, usually volunteers who are eligible to meet the participation requirements. Then the researcher asks them to participate in distribution of the questionnaires by identifying other members through their social networks from the same population to be included in the sample. These members are also asked to further identify and distribute the questionnaire down to their contacts, thus the sample is growing in size like a rolling snowball (Saunders et al., 2007). Therefore, using the snowballing technique was very useful in this research to reach out to a large number of population. Snowballing technique has its advantages of reaching out to a larger number of people. But one of the disadvantage is that the total population to whom the questionnaires were distributed cannot be directly determined. A total of 1593 responses were received with 1476 valid responses. The selection of sample for the survey was random sampling. The only criteria for participation was that they watch Turkish TV drama programs. The questionnaire was sent as online short link for easy access and high reachability as being accessible from any device at any time.

Data Analysis
The quantitative data is analysed using SPSS software. The data is tested for reliability using Cronbach’s Alpha. In addition to this, other statistical analyses such as descriptive, correlation, and regression are carried out to understand the responses based on the 5-point scale and to study the relationship between the variables. The regression is also used to test the hypotheses as indicated in table1.

Table 1
Hypotheses Result
Hypothesis Result
H1 Partially supported
H2 Supported
H3 Supported
H4 Supported
H5 Supported
H6 Not Supported
H7 Supported
H8 Supported
To study the impact of demographics on TV drama, the independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA is used.

The relations between the variables were established using the correlation analysis. The descriptive analysis was used to study the demographics and responses received in the 5-point scales. Each of these analyses provided different perspective of the data and understanding about the Saudi viewers of Turkish TV dramas in respect of perception, attitude and purchase intention of apparel made in Turkey.

The correlation analysis as shown on Figure 2 provides the relationship between two variables. The correlation is studied based on the 2-tailed significance, which should have 95% confidence level between the two variables. In other words, the value should be below 0.05.
Based on the significance the correlation between the two variables is studied. The correlation value ranges between -1 and +1. Values that are between -0.0 and -0.5 have weak negative correlation and similarly, the values that are between 0.0 and 0.5 have weak positive correlation. Values that are between -0.5 and -1.0 have strong negative correlation and similarly, values that are between 0.5 and 1.0 have strong positive correlation.


Figure 2 Research Framework with Correlations

Conclusion
The first part of the self-administered questionnaire contained various demographic variables that provided an overview of the respondents. Prior to the respondent answering the questionnaire, there was a screening question that ensured that only people who watched Turkish TV drama needed to take part in the survey. The next question pertained to the duration of watching Turkish TV drama. The findings indicated that most of them have been watching the Turkish drama series since more than five years. Only 10% of them indicated that they have started to watch these TV drama series, since less than one year. This indicated that the people who have participated in this survey have adequate exposure to the Turkish TV drama series.

The rest of the demographics data that were collected were gender, age, marital status, highest education qualification, and occupation. These were studied using descriptive analysis and crosstab analysis. The results indicated that higher participation was from females, between the age group of 18-24 years, with Bachelor’s degree, and married. Some of them were also students. This data provided understanding that more of the younger generation watched the Turkish TV drama series, compared to the older generation. The use of crosstab analysis also indicated more information. Based on the marital status it was understood that more participation was from married people, but when the crosstab analysis between age and marital status indicated higher participation from age group of 18-24 years and those who were single. The crosstab analysis between education qualification and occupation indicated that higher participation were from student with highest qualification of Bachelor’s degree.

The impact of the Turkish TV drama was studied on three spontaneous factors. These are country image, TV drama attributes and the direct perception of Turkish apparel. Within country image, the focus was on understanding the impact of Turkish TV drama on the image of Turkey. Turkey is depicted positively in these Turkish dramas and therefore it was important to understand if the drama played any importance in changing the perception of Turkey in the minds of the viewers. The findings showed that the Turkish drama had definitely played an important role in the viewer’s perception of Turkey. Most of them stated that their perception of Turkish history had improved. And the Turkish drama also played an important role in positively changing the perception of Saudi viewers on Turkish technology, industry, economic status, quality of life, its people and their culture. Therefore, they indicated that after watching Turkish TV drama their perception of Turkey had improved. Thus we can conclude the Turkish TV drama does play an important role in the perception of Saudi viewers toward Turkey.

From the responses it was understood that the Saudi viewers like to watch these TV programs as they had a good storyline and plot. In other words, these programs captured the interest of the people. Another factor that enabled them closer to these programs was the actor and actresses, in addition to the production quality, entertainment and also the dubbing it into Arabic language. This was also confirmed earlier by the MBC representative through the interview. Therefore, based on these results, we can conclude that the Turkish TV drama played a positive role in the involvement and perception of Saudi viewers.

The impact of watching these TV drama series on the direct perception of clothes was also studied. Based on the findings, it was understood that the perception of majority of the Saudi viewers were positively influenced by the Turkish TV drama. This also led them to think about new fashion and trends based on what they saw in the Turkish TV drama. A certain majority also indicated that their interest in the clothes made in Turkey has also increased.

The findings of attitude indicated that the Saudi viewer’s perception about Turkey and clothes made in Turkey had increased. The viewers’ perceptions about Turkish clothes did influence their attitude positively. However the findings indicate that the TV dramas made the Saudi viewers perceive positively the country image and its products (clothes) but there were many responses in neutral and lack of further actions to boost the attitude. This is why when respondents were asked; how the clothes worn in the TV drama have changed their interest in Turkish clothes, a good majority were in the neutral scale.

Again the majority were in the neutral scale when asked about the perception of clothes in Turkish TV drama creating positive attitudes towards the Turkish clothing brands. However the final cumulative attitude is strong positive.

Similar results were found between attitude towards Turkish apparel and Turkish TV drama viewers purchase intention. As discussed above, the attitude towards clothes made in Turkey has increased, but their interest in these brands that would drive them to make purchase did not increase accordingly. Hence, only some of them indicated that their intention and tendency towards purchasing Turkish apparel had increased. The likelihood of Saudi people in purchasing clothes made in Turkey has yet to be changed. If the Saudi people were informed about the availability of these products in the Saudi market, then their intention to purchase and use of these products could have been enhanced. This is because, several of them stated that they were willing to pay higher price to purchase Turkish clothes and keep up with the latest fashion trends that were seen in the Turkish TV dramas.

It is understood that people in Saudi have been positively influenced towards the clothes made in Turkey, after watching the Turkish TV drama series. These TV dramas are a good platform for Turkey in promoting their clothing fashion and brands in Saudi Arabia. The Turkish dramas are watched eagerly by the Saudi people and with their family and friends by scheduling their time.
Based on the findings, we can state that the Saudi viewers of Turkish TV drama have positive perception and attitude towards Turkish clothes that are seen on the Turkish drama. To a certain extent the intention of purchasing these products is also positive.

The Saudi people are interested in the Turkish drama. And through these Turkish dramas, their interest in Turkey, its culture, its people, and the Turkish apparel have increased. They also have positive attitude in purchasing these clothes. The need is for Turkey to tap into this positive perception and attitude and to create an environment for purchasing these products.

Recommendation
This research has provided valuable information into the business possibilities for Turkey. There are several areas of developments that need to be studied.

The recommendation is towards the TURQUALITY® project. This is the decisive authority in the development of Turkey brands. The TURQUALITY® project ensures that the products and services of Turkey are branded. This is the leading advantage that Turkey needs to utilize in bringing its clothing products and brands to the Saudi consumers.
Therefore, based on the TURQUALITY® project, the Turkish government should take interest in promoting the Turkish clothes, products and fashion in Saudi Arabia. The evidence from quantitative and qualitative research points to the positive interest by Saudi people for Turkish fashion, arising from watching the Turkish TV drama.

It is time now to for MBC to carry out further studies into the possibility of enhancing the Turkish TV drama series and creating a market for Turkish products, especially the clothes. MBC needs to do this in relation with TURQUALITY® project and ITKIB. MBC is a production firm, but this is a step that they need to take as they are the extension of Turkey in Saudi Arabia through the Turkish TV drama series. It was understood from the interview that MBC can also carry out product placement and brand endorsement on Turkish dramas that are aired in Saudi Arabia. This option can be used to promote Turkish products. The Turkish TV drama is a good channel for developing various areas, such as the apparel, tourism, and real estate products.

Future Research
From a theoretical perspective, a future comparative study would be recommended where the influence of Turkish dramas can be assessed by comparing two different countries. The wave of the Turkish dramas has covered more than 130 countries around the world, and the influence has been reported in many articles, however there is no comparative study to assess the same influence of Turkish dramas on two countries.

The future research is assumed to be towards understanding the steps that TURQUALITY® project have taken thus far towards promoting Turkish products and brands in lights of Turkish drama in Saudi Arabia.





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Aljammazi, A., & Asil, H. (2017). The Influence of Turk?sh TV Dramas on Saudi Consumers’ Percept?ons, Att?tudes and Purchase Intentions toward Turkish Products. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(1), 187-202.

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