Developing the scale of presidential candidate's dialogic communication (PCDC) during the 2017 presidential campaign in South Korea

This study aims to develop and validate a measure of presidential candidates’ dialogic communication (PCDC) in political public relations. We conceptualized the construct of PCDC with two dialogic dimensions, voicing and listening, from the relational perspective. Through the scale development process, we conducted an online survey of 1,195 Korean participants during the Korean presidential campaign in February 2017. The results showed that the proposed two-dimensional PCDC scale with 12 items was statistically reliable and valid. The findings also revealed that voicing and listening were significantly associated with publics’ intention to support or oppose a candidate and their supportive or critical communication behavior regarding the candidate. Theoretical and strategic implications are further discussed.