정치인의 이미지와 투표참여의 관계연구 : SNS활동, 의사결정, 병리현상을 중심으로

Abstract

A study on the Relationship between the Image of Politicians and Voter’s Intention to Participate in Voting -Focusing on Politicians’s SNS, Political Decision-Making and Political Pathology-

Koo, Ja Hyun Department of Political Science and International Relations Chosun University Supervised by Professor Oh, Soo-yol

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of politician's images on voter's participation in voting. As a study method, such factors as politician's SNS activities, political decision-making, and political pathology, which had effects on politician's images, were established as independent variables. In addition, politician's images were classified into external images and internal images and then they were established as intervening variables. After examining the causal relations of every variable, 14 hypotheses were worked out and then their results were looked into, thus analyzing the effects of politician's images on voter's participation in voting. In addition, the tendency of participation in voting, which had effects on election policies, was examined by generations. Study findings are as follows: First, politician's external/positive images as an intervening variable of politician's SNS activities had negative effects on voter's participation in voting. In other words, politician's external/positive images had negative effects on politician's SNS activity-oriented images. This finding seems to present the fact that voters distrust politicians very much. Politician's external/positive images as a political decision-making had no effects on voter's participation in voting. Political decision-making means that voters want to elect good politicians through their endeavors of voting, but politician's external/positive images are difficult to reflect voter's intention. Politician's external/positive images as an intervening variable of political pathology had positive effects on voter's participation in voting. Since political pathology is a negative thought for politics and politician's external/positive images are not their innate images but camouflaged ones, voters think they must change those false images and therefore their rate of participation in voting increases. Second, politician's internal/negative images as an intervening variable of politician's SNS activities had positive effects on voter's participation in voting. In order words, politician's SNS activity-oriented internal/negative images make voters think to elect good politicians, thus having positive effects on voter's participation in voting and increasing the rate of their participation in voting. Politician's internal/negative images as an intervening variable of political decision-making had positive effects on voter's participation in voting, thus increasing the rate of their participation in voting. Since political decision-making means that voters want to elect good politicians through their correct endeavors of voting, they want to change negative politicians and elect good ones through their participation in voting. Therefore, the rate of their participation in voting increases. Politician's internal/negative images as an intervening variable of political pathology had negative effects on voter's participation in voting, thus decreasing the rate of their participation in voting. Political pathology regards politics negatively in general. In this regard, when voters encounter with politicians of negative images, they think all the politicians are liars and do not want to take part in voting. As a result, politician's images have positive or negative effects on voter's participation in voting, according to intervening variables. In addition, whether politician's images are positive or negative, voters take various conditions into account and then make decisions based on their understanding. As for the difference and common point of generational participation in voting, which having effects on election policies, voters in their 20s presented lower interest in politician's SNS activities than other generations did. This finding seems to present the fact that voters in their 20s nowadays routinely carry out SNS activities, and therefore regard the SNS activities of politicians in their 30s, 40s and 50s not as a good dimension of politician's efforts but as a natural social phenomenon. In case of voters in their 30s, politician's images as an intervening variable of political decision-making had no significant effects on their participation in voting, regardless of external, internal, positive or negative. Voters in their 30s are very busy and have a hard time in living and therefore their intention of political decision-making is lower than that of voters in their 20s, 40s, and 50s. In case of voters in their 40s, the effects of 5 influential variables on their participation in voting were very close to the mean values of every generation. In case of voters in their 50s, a most unique feature of their participation in voting was that politician's external/positive images had negative effects on the political decision-making-oriented participation in voting of voters in their 20s, thus decreasing the rate of their participation in voting, but it had positive effects on the rate of participation in voting of voters in their 50s contrarily. In other words, voters in their 20s basically have negative ideas for politician's external/positive images, through their political decision-making, and therefore do not want to take part in voting, but voters in their 50s, through their political decision-making, assigned a great meaning to politician's external/positive images, and therefore, want to take part in voting. A most common point of voters in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s was that political pathology-oriented politician's external/positive images increased their participation in voting, whereas political pathology-oriented politician's internal/negative images decreased their participation in voting. The political pathology is voter's negative perspective to politics. In case of politician's external/positive images, voters think politicians only try to make their images positive, and therefore they want to elect genuine politicians through their participation in voting, thus increasing the rate of their participation in voting. In case of politician's internal/negative images, voters think politicians are alike and their participation in voting has no great meaning, thus decreasing the rate of their participation in voting. This finding seems to present the fact that political pathology decreases the reliability between politicians and voters very much. In addition, voters in their 20s and 30s had a more negative idea for political pathology than those in their 40s and 50s did. Many of voters in their 20s and 30s thought that political pathology had to be removed, but many of voters in their 40s and 50s accepted it as an inevitable phenomenon of Korean society.