한국과 중국의 국가 이미지에 대한 상호지향성 연구

Abstract

This study applies the Coorientation model to examine the degree of mutual perceptions and misperceptions of Korean and Chinese university students about country image. To this end, this study conducted an online survey of 320 Korean and Chinese college students. We summarize our findings as follows: First, South Korean university students rated South Korea's national image as better than China's national image, while Chinese university students rated China's national image as better than South Korea's national image. Second, when it came to evaluating Korea's national image, Korean and Chinese students had mixed results across items: Korean students were more positive than Chinese students on items such as Korea's cultural level, Korea's high technology, and Korea's overall image. On the other hand, Chinese university students were more positive than Korean students on items such as the level of income in Korea, the global influence of the Korean economy, and the social responsibility of Korea. Third, when looking at Korean college students' perceptions of Korea's national image and Chinese college students' estimates of Korean college students' perceptions of China's national image, we find that there is generally a discrepancy between Korean college students' perceptions and Chinese college students' estimates of Korean college students' perceptions of China's national image, i.e., Korean college students perceive that Chinese college students will rate Korea's national image lower than they do. On the other hand, Chinese college students estimate that Korean college students would rate Korea's national image higher than Chinese college students on most items. Fourth, when looking at Korean college students' perceptions of Korea's national image and Chinese college students' estimates of Korean college students' perceptions, we find that Chinese college students misread Korean college students' perceptions in most items, i.e., Chinese college students mistakenly believe that Korean college students would rate Korea's national image higher than Korean college students actually do. On the other hand, Korean college students also misread the Chinese college students' thoughts: in most items, they assume that Chinese college students would rate Korea's country image lower than they actually do. Fifth, when looking at Chinese college students' perceptions of China's national image and Korean college students' estimates of Chinese college students' perceptions, Chinese college students believe that Korean college students' perceptions are not much different from Chinese college students' perceptions. On the other hand, when comparing Korean college students' perceptions of China's national image with Chinese college students' estimates of Korean college students' perceptions, Korean college students estimate that Chinese college students' perceptions of China's national image are higher than their own on all items. Sixth, when looking at Chinese college students' perceptions of China's national image and Korean college students' estimates of Chinese college students' perceptions, there are mixed results across the national image items: Korean college students are good at estimating Chinese college students' perceptions of China's cultural level, friendliness of Chinese people, high technology, and overall image of China. However, Korean college students are not good at estimating Chinese college students' perceptions of China's income level, global influence of China's economy, and social responsibility of China. Finally, we examined Korean college students' perceptions of China's national image and Chinese college students' estimates of Korean college students' perceptions. It was found that Chinese college students were not good at estimating Korean college students' perceptions of China's national image at all.