Korean Studies for International Management Journal

The Evolution of Citizenship: Tracking the Shift from Collective Duty to Individual Rights in KOBACO Campaigns (1981–2025)

2026-03-14T19:44:21+07:00

This study examines the longitudinal transformation of citizenship in South Korea by analyzing state-sponsored public service advertisements (PSAs) produced by the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation (KOBACO) from 1981 to 2025. Situated at the intersection of media studies and political sociology, the research utilizes a longitudinal mixed-methods approach combining quantitative thematic coding of 445 campaigns with critical discourse analysis to track how the "Good Korean Citizen" has been discursively reconstructed across different political and economic eras. Findings reveal a significant shift from the developmental-authoritarian period (1980s), which emphasized collectivist national duties such as economic productivity and family planning, toward a neoliberal model (1990s-2000s) focused on individualized ethical consumption and personal responsibility. Notably, the contemporary "Smart Society" phase (2020s) marks a new evolution toward digital citizenship. At this time, civic virtue is increasingly characterized by compliance with digitized public health standards and active participation in state-led digital ecosystems. Despite these transitions, the analysis suggests that Korean civic identity maintains a unique synthesis of Confucian relational ethics and modern surveillance norms, where individualism often functions as a form of social obligation rather than radical autonomy.

Korea–ASEAN Business and International Management (2006–2025): A Bibliometric Mapping

2026-03-16T21:47:38+07:00

This study examines the intellectual and thematic structure of Korea–ASEAN business and international management research published between 2006 and 2025 using a systematic bibliometric approach. The analysis draws on 163 Scopus-indexed documents and integrates performance indicators with science mapping techniques to trace publication trends, collaboration patterns, and the field’s conceptual organization. Research output increases markedly after 2016, with nearly two-thirds of the corpus published in the past decade and a peak in 2024. The field remains highly dispersed across 118 journals, reflecting its interdisciplinary character. In terms of knowledge production, South Korea is the leading contributor, followed by the United States, China, and Malaysia, alongside substantial international collaboration among major publishing countries. Thematic patterns continue to be dominated by foreign direct investment (FDI) and global value chain perspectives, with growing attention to regional integration and country-specific contexts, particularly Vietnam. Bibliographic coupling identifies four main research fronts: FDI determinants and outcomes, FDI–energy–environment linkages, knowledge transfer and organizational mechanisms, and global value chain restructuring. Co-citation analysis further indicates an intellectual base rooted in FDI–growth and spillover research, complemented by value-added trade and capability-based perspectives. The findings reveal a structural imbalance in the field. While macroeconomic approaches dominate, firm-level and organizational mechanisms remain comparatively underdeveloped despite their strong influence. This study contributes by clarifying this imbalance and outlining a research agenda focused on production-network reconfiguration, digital internationalization, sustainability governance, and multi-level designs linking firm strategy to regional policy frameworks.

Korean Beauty Surgery as Capitalized Soft Power: From Aesthetic Practice to Global Cultural Authority

2026-03-15T09:01:53+07:00

South Korea’s cosmetic surgery industry has emerged as an influential sector that transcends medical services and functions as a form of soft power. This study reconceptualizes Korean cosmetic surgery as capitalized soft power, emphasizing its dual role in generating economic value while shaping global aesthetic norms. Rather than framing cosmetic surgery solely in terms of gendered beauty norms, medical tourism, or individual consumer choice, this paper situates the industry within broader processes of national branding, transnational service management, and cultural political economy. Drawing on qualitative thematic analysis of policy documents, digital platforms, and scholarly literature, the study analyzes the role of state policy, urban spatial concentration, notably Gangnam, and medical tourism initiatives in institutionalizing cosmetic surgery as part of South Korea’s branding strategy. Clinics emerge as transnational cultural sites where foreign patients encounter Korean service culture, affective labor, and aesthetic ideology, transforming surgical procedures into immersive cultural experiences rather than purely clinical transactions. From an international management perspective, the paper demonstrates how Korean cosmetic surgery clinics operate as transnational service firms that strategically manage trust, risk, and uncertainty across borders. Their global success derives not only from surgical expertise but also from organizational capabilities such as standardized consultation systems, digital visualization technologies, and post-operative care infrastructures. Ultimately, the study argues that Korean beauty surgery operates through mechanisms of persuasion, normalization, and aspiration, thereby extending Korea’s cultural authority beyond traditional media industries. This contributes to Korean Studies by reframing aesthetic medicine as a significant site of geopolitical influence and economic power.

Institutional Alignment and Governance Capacity: Evaluating THACCA through Theoretical Models of Creative Economy

2026-03-14T17:44:32+07:00

This study examines the Thailand Creative Culture Agency (THACCA) by applying established theoretical frameworks to evaluate its institutional readiness and governance capacity. The study serves as the foundation for understanding the challenges to transform cultural capital into a sustainable global industry. The research question is how the agency aligns with concepts such as the creative economy, soft power, national branding, and the developmental state to assess THACCA’s potential to drive economic growth. The analysis conducted through the developed theoretical framework under those theories finds the gap in the THACCA context. The study finds that Thailand has good policy goals, but there are still significant structural gaps. These gaps include legal ambiguity, fragmented coordination, and underdeveloped intellectual property protections. It suggests that THACCA requires a more robust legal foundation and greater autonomy from political shifts.

Monitoring Anti-Bribery Enforcement in South Korea: Evidence from OECD

2026-03-14T09:27:17+07:00

This article investigates the implementation and enforcement of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Anti-Bribery Convention) in South Korea by analyzing the Working Group on Bribery’s (WGB) four-phase peer-review monitoring system. Since ratifying the convention in 1999, South Korea has developed a legal framework, which is the Foreign Bribery Prevention Act (FBPA). However, there is a significant gap between formal (de jure) compliance and practical (de facto) enforcement. Through successive monitoring phases, the study identifies South Korea as a condition of “maturity without volition”. This means that South Korea has good institutional structures but lacks the political and judicial will that is important to prosecute powerful economic actors, specifically Chaebols. While phases 1-3 show that South Korea has rapid legislative adoption, phase 4 highlights that South Korea has a declining performance in enforcement and problems that some cases rely on foreign jurisdictions. These problems derive from high levels of secrecy in case detection, narrow interpretations of foreign public officials, and cultural leniency regarding corporate sanctions. Eventually, the article concludes that transitioning to genuine integrity requires moving beyond impractical compliance. So, the article recommends strengthening the judiciary's understanding of the convention’s principle of functional equivalence and fostering a shift toward proactive and practical risk management within the corporate sector. This will bridge the existing enforcement gap.