International student-mobility programs are one of the core programs countries employ as part of their public diplomacy portfolio. Policymakers assume that sponsored foreign students would develop positive beliefs about and emotions towards the host country, which in turn would lead to favorable behavior towards it. However, evaluations of such programs from a public diplomacy perspective are rare and Western-centric. In this paper, we analyze how Global Korea Scholarship students’ cognitive and affective evaluations of Korea influence their country image and word-of-mouth about Korea; i.e., in how they voluntarily share their experiences in Korea with others. We use variance-based partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data obtained from surveying 1107 scholarship holding foreign students. Our findings suggest that students evaluate Korea most positively in terms of its culture and nature, while their evaluations are not as positive in terms of the integrity and values of the country. For positive word-of-mouth, affection towards Korea plays the most significant role, while for negative word-of-mouth, the students’ beliefs about the country’s integrity and values had the most influence. Our findings help identify the strengths and weaknesses in Korea’s country image which can, in turn, inform and shape policies accordingly.

国际学生流动计划是国家作为其公共外交投资组合的一部分而采用的核心计划之一。政策制定者认为，资助的外国留学生会对东道国产生积极的信念和情感，反过来又会导致对东道国的有利行为。但是，从公共外交角度对此类计划进行评估的情况很少，而且是以西方为中心的。在本文中，我们分析了全球韩国奖学金生对韩国的认知和情感评价如何影响他们对韩国的国家形象和口碑。即，他们如何自愿与他人分享在韩国的经验。我们使用基于方差的偏最小二乘结构方程模型（PLS-SEM）来分析从对1107名外国留学生奖学金的调查中获得的数据。我们的发现表明，学生在韩国的文化和自然方面对韩国的评价最高，而在韩国的完整性和价值观方面，韩国的评价则不如韩国。对于正面的口碑，对韩国的情感发挥最大的作用，而对于负面的口碑，学生对国家完整性和价值观的信念影响最大。我们的发现有助于确定韩国国家形象的优点和缺点，从而可以相应地为政策提供依据并制定政策。学生对国家诚信和价值观的信仰影响最大。我们的发现有助于确定韩国国家形象的优点和缺点，从而可以相应地为政策提供依据并制定政策。学生对国家诚信和价值观的信仰影响最大。我们的发现有助于确定韩国国家形象的优点和缺点，从而可以相应地为政策提供依据并制定政策。