Abstract
By analyzing survey data on nuclear energy policy in South Korea, this study examined the influence of citizens’ knowledge on the perceptions of and attitudes to government communication initiatives that are characterized by symmetry and transparency, and their effects in developing institutional legitimacy and policy acceptance. The findings indicate that symmetrical and transparent communication are involved in forming institutional legitimacy and policy acceptance of government decisions on the controversial topic of nuclear energy, but the process differs depending on citizens’ knowledge of the topic. Well-informed citizens who used reasoning were more likely than others to respond positively to symmetrical and transparent communication, which shaped their support for institutional legitimacy and policy acceptance on nuclear energy policy issues. These findings provide some of the first empirical evidence of the effectiveness of government communication.
Highlights
With an emphasis on citizen participation in administrative decision-making and management, government communication has become one of the core managerial functions facilitating citizen access to and the exchange of information [1,2]
To explore the differential effects of citizens’ knowledge on the link between government communication and citizens’ attitudes, this study focused on variables such as symmetrical communication, transparent communication, government–citizen relationships, institutional legitimacy, and policy acceptance
Government–Citizen Relationship (GCR)—Based on a widely adapted instrument of the extant literature [12,30], we developed six items to evaluate the quality of the relationship between the government organization and citizens: (a) the government organization seems to invest in its residents, (b) the government organization demonstrates an interest in me as a person, (c) the government organization supports events that are of interest to its citizens, (d) the government organization strives to improve the community for its residents, (e) the government organization is honest in its dealings with residents, and (f) the government organization is willing to devote resources to maintaining its relationship with citizens
Summary
With an emphasis on citizen participation in administrative decision-making and management, government communication has become one of the core managerial functions facilitating citizen access to and the exchange of information [1,2]. Providing public information to citizens influences their perceptions of and attitudes to government, such as government trust [6], service effectiveness [7], and legitimacy [8]. These studies suggest that government efforts to communicate and interact with citizens improve citizens’ attitudes toward governmental activities. While citizens’ knowledge plays a critical role in their processing of public information [6,9,10,11], the literature overlooks the influence of citizen knowledge on the effectiveness of external government communication
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