Country Reputation in Multidimensions: Predictors,Effects, and Communication Channels

A country's reputation is a subject of increasing interest for the practice and research of public relations and public diplomacy. South Korea's reputation as viewed by Americans, the country's most strategic foreign public, is the topic of this study. It aims to (a) demonstrate a reliable, valid measurement model of country reputation in multidimensions for the research context; (b) examine effects of individual experience with and awareness of the country on country reputation; (c) assess the effects of country reputation on foreign publics' supportive intentions toward the country; and (d) explore strategic communication channels that can be effectively used for country reputation management. Key findings of this study include a valid, reliable measurement instrument of country reputation, strongly mediating effects of public awareness between individual experience and country reputation, and the encouraging effect of country reputation on nation branding.     

‘(What's so funny ‘bout) peace,love & understanding’: rock culture and the rebuilding of civic identity in the post-conflict Balkans

The article examines current rock culture in the Balkans as a potential vehicle for rebuilding the broken sociocultural bonds between the different post-Yugoslav societies and for creating a constructive cultural space for articulating new forms of civic and post-nationalist identities. The argument offered is that, after the sociocultural exile during the war years, rock culture in the post-conflict Balkans has considerable potential to establish itself as a popular-cultural force of ‘utopian transcendence’ of the current ethno-nationalist sociopolitical moment, and as a catalyst of the new post-Yugoslav spirit of openness, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.     

The use of child care center for infants of dual-working families in Korea

Using the first and second wave data of the Panel Study of Korean Children (PSKC), which is comprehensive longitudinal data with a nationally representative birth cohort, this study explores whether and when dual-working families place their infants and toddlers in child care centers and what factors influence these families' selection process. Among the 2078 families examined in the PSKC, 466 dual-working families which had any kind of nonparental care arrangement for their very young children at the time of the second survey were included in the analysis. Since our research questions address when the use of child care centers occurred, an event history analysis was conducted. The results show that 32.4% of the families had placed their infants in child care centers prior to the second interview. Family structure and income variables (number of children, nonparental adults in the household, and household income), mother's education level, and the mother's number of working hours turned out to be significantly related to the probability of child care center use.     

Preferences and Expectations for Delivering Bad News Among Korean Older Adults

ABSTRACT

 The purpose of this study was to explore Korean older adults’ perspectives toward physicians’ disclosure of serious illness to patients. Seventy Korean older adults residing in the community were interviewed in person using a semistructured interview guide. Major themes included conflicting desires among participants to: 1) inform the patient directly, 2) inform the patient indirectly, and 3) inform only the family. Subthemes under the first theme included: a) decision making about treatment, b) planning and preparation for the future, c) need for use of an ethical standard, d) consideration of patient coping responses, and e) disclosure of serious illness as a relational process. Disclosure of bad news is more than revealing or concealing information. Needs and preferences regarding to what extent and how information is delivered differ by culture. Thus, understanding preferred communication pathways for advanced care planning in specific cultural frameworks is important. Future studies using clear concepts and measures about serious illness disclosure can better prepare health care professionals in interacting with those from minority cultures. In addition, studies of those with poor health status from diverse cultural groups may further assist social workers to tailor interventions to accommodate cultural needs and expectations in end-of-life settings.     

Refugees as perceived threat: College students' attitudes towards refugees in South Korea

In 2018, the influx of Yemeni asylum seekers generated the unprecedented politicization of the refugee issue in South Korea. This paper explored South Korean attitudes towards refugees by collecting data from Korean college students. In doing so, we looked into what led to negative attitudes towards refugees and the role perceived threats play as a mediator. Following previous studies on intergroup threat theory, we noted that threat perception was a useful tool in understanding intergroup prejudice and anxiety as perceived threats and their antecedents were found to explain a significant amount of the attitudes towards refugees. We also found strong interconnections between prejudices towards different minority groups, including Islamophobia, homophobia and anti-refugee attitudes. This finding supported the idea that such prejudices are part of a larger intolerant belief system towards minority groups in general.     

Extreme ranking analysis in robust ordinal regression

We extend the principle of robust ordinal regression with an analysis of extreme ranking results. In our proposal, we consider the whole set of instances of a preference model that is compatible with preference information provided by the DM. We refer to both, the well-known UTA^GMS method, which builds the set of general additive value functions compatible with DM's preferences, and newly introduced in this paper PROMETHEE^GKS, which constructs the set of compatible outranking models via robust ordinal regression. Then, we consider all complete rankings that follow the use of the compatible preference models, and we determine the best and the worst attained ranks for each alternative. In this way, we are able to assess its position in an overall ranking, and not only in terms of pairwise comparisons, as it is the case in original robust ordinal regression methods. Additionally, we analyze the ranges of possible comprehensive scores (values or net outranking flows). We also discuss extensions of the presented approach on other multiple criteria problems than ranking. Finally, we show how the presented methodology can be applied in practical decision support, reporting results of three illustrative studies.     

Democratization and its Consequences

Social Indicators Research - This article addresses the significant consequences of democratic changes in Korea, not only for the way the country is governed, but also the way in which its people...     

A sociological implication of environment in social development

This study, which identifies the sociological implication of the environment in social development, was based on the notion that environmental research should recognize that the environment consists of 3 main, interdependent components: the natural environment, the man-made environment, and the social environment. The study first examines these components of environment and their internal mechanisms and, after noting that sociology has failed to explore the interdependence among these components, offers a new notion of ecosystem that modifies and expands the framework offered by Duncan's POET model (increased population creates pressure for technological change, increases urbanization, and creates more pollution). Next, the paper examines the emerging natural and social environmental problems caused by industrialization. The concluding section reviews the development of concepts about the relationship between the environment and social development based on the assumption of limited natural resources. Because it is now understood that it is more appropriate to consider the limit of ecological capacity, it is important to learn to measure social development by the successful achievement of an adaptation or by harmonization with the environment, rather than by material growth. This requires a conceptualization of man as being part of, rather than independent of, nature. New indicators must be developed to measure the degree of social development achieved.     

长三角一体化背景下新媒体助力乡村振兴设计战略模式

长三角区域经济发展活跃,开放程度高,创新能力强.长三角一体化发展战略在推进新媒体与美丽乡村融合创新建设中,具有较强激发作用.应充分发挥长三角一体化发展背景下新媒体所具备的普适化与高频化创新性、常态化跨界融合性、协同化文化交融性等优势.运用顶层战略设计思维,深入挖掘新媒体适度区域化联动融合、脱贫攻坚成果延续深耕、乡村生态文明传承创新等设计战略特性.通过建立智能化生态创新平台、创设数字乡村多增长极微传媒系统、架构乡村智媒体互联网涉农服务体系、构建沉浸式智媒体交互系统等设计战略模式,推动乡村振兴.     

服务业顾客关系承诺研究——基于中、韩、澳顾客跨文化的比较

本文将顾客关系承诺划分为情感性和算计性承诺来构建研究模型,并以中、韩、澳三个国家美发业顾客的调查数据进行假设验证。结果表明:(1)服务质量、信任、缺乏替代分别被确认为情感性、算计性承诺的先行因素,虽然其效果在三个国家都显著,但其影响强度却出现一定的差异。(2)情感承诺对转换意向的负向影响和对溢价支付意向的正向影响在三个国家都非常显著。而且在韩国和澳大利亚,情感性承诺对负面口碑的负向影响效果也显著。(3)在中国和澳大利亚,算计性承诺对转换意向产生正向影响。同时在中国,算计性承诺对溢价支付意向产生正向影响,而在澳大利亚却产生负向影响。另外,算计性承诺对负面口碑的正向影响在三个国家都出现显著效果。