This study aims to empirically examine the effects of patriotic content as a policy instrument for enhancing public awareness of and participation in veterans affairs. While national veterans policy seeks to disseminate the value of honoring those who...
This study aims to empirically examine the effects of patriotic content as a policy instrument for enhancing public awareness of and participation in veterans affairs. While national veterans policy seeks to disseminate the value of honoring those who have sacrificed and contributed to the nation through appropriate recognition and compensation, past policy approaches have largely relied on institution-centered compensation approaches. As a result, veterans policy has often been perceived by the public as a consumptive welfare program targeting a limited group, which has constrained interest in veterans policy and voluntary participation and limited the diffusion of veterans values into daily perceptions and behaviors. In response to these limitations, storytelling-based patriotic content has recently gained attention as an alternative policy tool capable of fostering public empathy and engagement. However, empirical research examining how exposure to patriotic content influences veterans consciousness, policy support, and veterans behavioral intention remains limited. Accordingly, this study analyzes the mechanisms through which patriotic content affects public perceptions and behaviors in order to provide policy-relevant evidence for the expansion of veterans culture.
This study utilizes data from the 2022 Veterans Culture Awareness Survey conducted by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. Exposure to patriotic content is specified as the independent variable, while policy support is divided into symbolic policy support and material policy support as dependent variables. Veterans behavioral intention is included as another key dependent variable. Two analytical models are constructed, incorporating veterans consciousness by type of service and social norm perceptions as mediating variables. Multiple regression analysis and parallel multiple mediation analysis are employed, and the statistical significance of indirect effects is tested using bootstrapping methods. Demographic characteristics and veterans-related experiential variables are included as control variables to estimate the net effects of patriotic content.
The results show that exposure to patriotic content has a statistically significant positive effect on both policy support and veterans behavioral intention. In the policy support model, patriotic content influences symbolic and material policy support via veterans consciousness by type of service. Veterans consciousness fully mediates the relationship between patriotic content and symbolic policy support, whereas it partially mediates the relationship with material policy support. In particular, the indirect effects of national defense– and public service–related veterans consciousness are relatively strong, while the indirect effects of democratization-related veterans consciousness are limited or statistically insignificant. In the behavioral intention model, patriotic content affects veterans behavioral intention through both descriptive norms and injunctive norms, with both norms exhibiting partial mediation effects. Notably, the indirect effect of descriptive norms is significantly greater than that of injunctive norms.
These findings suggest that veterans policy should move beyond a compensation-centered institutional approach and incorporate cultural policy instruments that promote changes in public perceptions and behaviors. By demonstrating that different types of veterans consciousness exert varying degrees of influence on policy support depending on policy type, this study indicates that patriotic content strategies should be differentiated according to policy objectives. Moreover, by highlighting the role of social norms—particularly perceptions of others’ actual behaviors—in shaping veterans behavioral intention, this study extends existing research by situating veterans behavior within a broader social context. From a policy perspective, patriotic content can function as a supplementary policy tool that gradually expands public awareness of veterans values, and norm-based content strategies that enhance the visibility of participation may serve as effective means of encouraging voluntary veterans-related behaviors.