Wonhyuk Cho
Ewha Womans University · Social Sciences
About the Lab
Professor Wonhyuk Cho's research lab focuses on public administration, organizational innovation, and digital governance in the public sector. The lab explores the implementation and impact of data-driven decision-making, such as HR analytics and smart government initiatives, particularly in contexts of bureaucratic reform and institutional change. It also investigates workplace dynamics under stress, including the effects of crises like the pandemic, and the role of citizen engagement through social media and coproduction. A central theme is understanding how organizational structures, autonomy, and technological adoption influence government performance and public service delivery.
Research Overview
Research Output Trend
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Selected Papers
15The advancement of data technology such as machine learning and artificial intelligence has broadened the scope of human resources (HR) analytics, commonly referred to as “people analytics.” This field has seen significant growth in recent years as organizations increasingly rely on algorithm-based predictive tools for HR-related decision making. However, its application in the public sector is not yet fully understood. This study examined the concepts and practices of HR analytics through a the
Starting in 2012, the South Korean government has implemented a large-scale relocation of its central government agencies, which are now split between the existing capital city (Seoul) and a new administrative-capital city (Sejong). One of the most controversial aspects of the relocation has been the bureaucratic inefficiency caused by its split nature. ICT-enabled solutions, dubbed “Smart Work”, were adopted to deal with this challenge, but have not been effective in avoiding inefficiency. In t
This article aims to analyze workplace dynamics in the public sector under highly disruptive environments. Survey data collected from 1,430 public employees in South Korea reveal that workload and work intensity have increased 13% to 15% on average compared to pre-pandemic conditions. Yet this impact on working conditions seems to be unevenly distributed across the public sector; the proportion of pandemic-affected workforce in each public organization ranged from 10% to 80%. More than 70% repor
This paper challenges the long-term criticism of the efficiency of the Weberian model of bureaucracy, on the hypothesis that its performance or competitiveness might be context specific, as what works best in some bureaucratic settings is unlikely to work to the same degree in others. To perform this assessment, this study analyzes relationships between characteristics of the Weberian model of bureaucracy and government performance in nations possessing different levels of democratic development
This study investigated how social media is used by a municipal government agency for communication of citizen coproduction initiatives, through social media content analysis of the government’s official Twitter account. This article identified that the dominant form of social media coproduction in the Bandung municipal government in Indonesia is government-to-citizen (G2C) interaction, focused primarily on informing and nudging (86.62%) citizens, as well as some limited elements of citizen-to-g
Agencification, the practice of creating semi-autonomous public bodies based on a contractual relationship with a parent government, has spread across the industrialized and developing world. The main principles of this NPM-based reform are autonomy and result control. This study uses regression analysis with data from forty-four executive agencies in Korea to examine the effect of these factors on organizational performance. The results show that both human resource management autonomy and fina
Using multiple large datasets over time from Kansas City, Missouri, hypotheses drawn from theories of racial stereotype amplification, violence desensitization, and dissimilar group threat are tested. The results show that White Americans that live in Black or Hispanic neighborhoods tend to feel less satisfied with public safety, even after controlling for actual crime rates, physical signs of disorder, and a neighborhood's socioeconomic context. However, racial minority residents living in Whit
Local governments are leading sustainability efforts through a range of initiatives, often voluntarily. While a spate of research exists to explain what drives these voluntary decisions, we are still limited in understanding how localities follow through with the resources to implement their adopted plans. This is particularly the case for environment and climate protection programs that are transboundary in nature and thus require more innovative and longer-term approaches than those that are r
The advent of digital social media in China has altered our understanding of who sets the policy agenda and forms public opinion. Using text mining analysis of more than 74,000 Weibo user comments (over 4 million words) on 6 years' worth of The People's Daily media coverage, this study investigates social media interactions on family planning policy issues between the state-run news media and individual users in China. Our analysis demonstrates that Weibo postings about the topic by government-r
With contemporary development of digital technology and smart cities initiatives, citizen co-production has created a new government-citizen interface. However, it remains inconclusive whether such citizen-government collaboration has achieved the fundamental goal of improving service quality for citizens. In this research, we tested the relationship between e-participation as a form of co-production and service performance, using multiple large longitudinal datasets from a smart city mobile pla
Social economy organizations (SEOs), designed to do good for society, have been attracting significant attention as an alternative to purely profit-driven businesses. However, the sustainability of these hybrid organizations has been questioned due to the challenges in meeting the dual bottom-lines of financial performance and social purpose. This article takes a causal-process tracing (CPT) case study approach and analyzes eight SEOs to investigate the common characteristics of sustainable SEOs
Public personnel management should strive to balance the needs of employees, employers, and society, but there is insufficient empirical research to conclude whether such goals conflict or coincide. Using longitudinal data from multiple independent sources, this study analyzes the relationship between employee voice opportunity in personnel management (employee rights), organizational performance (employer interest), and competing demands from citizens (societal objectives). The results showed t
This article analyzes how institutional pressures have allowed for continuities as well as brought about changes in modern police organizations in Korea. When facing a legitimacy crisis, the Korean law enforcement system has typically responded with organizational restructuring. Strong myth-building patterns compensate for the lack of moral legitimacy of the police, particularly under authoritarian-military regimes that suppress democratization movements in Korea. Even after seemingly radical or
Research Areas
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