The perception of the role of political leaders in Korea: An indigenous psychological analysis of junior high school and university students.

초록

This study examines the roles of Korean political leaders as perceived by junior high school and university students using the indigenous psychological analysis. An open-ended questionnaire developed by the second and third authors was used in this study to assess the perceived problems of Korean political leaders, the quality of a president and representatives of the National Assembly, and their role in transforming Korean society. A total of 575 students (300 junior high school students and 275 of university students) participated in this study. The results indicate that both junior high school and university students reported irregularities and corruption (50.4%) as the most important problem for Korean political leaders, followed by self-interest (12.3%), abuse of power (9.7%), dishonesty (8.9%) and factionalism (8.9%). As for the important quality of the president, both junior high school and university students reported strong leadership as being the most important quality, with university students (51.6%) showing a relatively higher response rate then junior high school students (26.3%). Strong leadership is defined by being able to command a group of people, charisma, and resoluteness. As for the representative of the National Assembly, honesty and integrity (31.8%) was the most frequent response. The role of the political leader is to promote national development (president=26.8%, the National Assembly=29.2%). Implication of the results for the areas of trust and leadership will be discussed