Measuring soft power via positive spontaneous actions of foreign publics: The harder power of voluntary experience, voluntary megaphoning, and general interest

SunHa Yeo, Hyelim Lee () and Alex Eschbach
Additional contact information
SunHa Yeo: The University of Oklahoma
Hyelim Lee: Washington State University
Alex Eschbach: The University of Oklahoma

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 2024, vol. 20, issue 2, No 2, 130-141

Abstract: Abstract This study places voluntarism, one of the key dimensions of soft power, at the center and argues that the extent of soft power can be determined by measuring the positive voluntary actions of non-government individuals toward a foreign country. Additionally, it adopts a relationship management perspective and acknowledges the significance of general interest toward a country can be considered a manifestation of soft power. To support these arguments, the study employs a secondary data analysis study design with a sample size of 1550, collected by the Korean Cultural Center in Indonesia in 2016. The t-test results demonstrate that voluntary indirect experience (watching Korean dramas) significantly impacts increased interest in Korea and individuals' pro-Korea communication actions (i.e., positive megaphoning). On the other hand, the direct experience (visiting South Korea) does not show a significant impact. In the multiple regression analysis, it is found that general interest in Korea, which represents an ongoing relationship between a country and foreign publics, makes the impact of direct experience and indirect experience disappear. The study offers a new approach to quantify soft power empirically and highlights the importance of general interest as a concept that aids researchers in examining the value of maintaining relationships.

Keywords: Soft power measurement; Positive voluntary actions; Voluntary megaphoning; General interests in a country (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41254-023-00309-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:pbapdi:v:20:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1057_s41254-023-00309-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.palgrave.com/gp/journal/41254

DOI: 10.1057/s41254-023-00309-2

Access Statistics for this article

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy is currently edited by Robert Govers and James Pamment

More articles in Place Branding and Public Diplomacy from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().