Do international students' direct experiences with the host country lead to strong attitude-behavior relations? Advancing public diplomacy research and beyond

The attitude-behavior (AB) relation with direct experience has produced a decades-long debate between two camps. Early on, Regan and Fazio first argued for a strong AB relation, whereas Schlegel and DiTecco found the opposite. This article examines the issue in the context of the attitudinal domain of international students as to their host country. Using the SEM technique to analyze a survey of 300 Chinese students in Korea, the study found a weak AB relation among the whole group and indicated that more direct experience led to a weaker AB relation in two split subgroups (long stay vs. short stay). This article discusses the implications not only for public diplomacy research on international students but for attitude literature in general.