IMPROVING THE METHODOLOGY OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN ENHANCING THE COUNTRY’S INTERNATIONAL IMAGE: IN THE EXAMPLE OF SOUTH KOREA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19201910Keywords:
Strategic Governance, National Branding, International Country Image, Strategic Image Governance, International Communication, PLS-SEM Modeling, Public Perception and Reputation Management.Abstract
Although research on strategic management linked with national branding is growing, few studies have focused
on the improvement of strategic management methodology through the experience of South Korea. The present study
opens broad opportunities for the application of strategic management in international image studies, including the role
of policy coordination and institutional communication and their impact on national reputation in responding to global
competition. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of strategic management and international communication in
achieving national image enhancement in responding to the challenges of global perception. Collected survey data were
subjected to a detailed PLS-SEM analysis to estimate the conditional probability that a strategic factor has a significant
effect, given the presence of one or more of its related policy variables. In order to analyze strategic governance and
international perception while also including image-related factors, certain strategic indicators and perception variables
were combined with the measurement set defined by prior literature, which resulted in the structural equation model. The
results show that stakeholders’ favorable evaluation of the effectiveness of their strategic management practices shows
national branding positively influences the formation of their international country image through the mediating effect of
public perception toward cultural diplomacy, economic achievements, and policy credibility. The results also show the
positive impact of strategic governance and international communication on national image during the global evaluation
process. Moreover, understanding the influence of strategic management for national image building in relation to the
structural model of international perception is a contribution to policy research that may help future governments achieve
faster reputation development. This research can also benefit policymakers as it provides practical implications such as
strategic coordination mechanisms to strengthen the use of the national image model and it contributes to the existing
literature in the area of strategic management and country branding in general.
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