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An Empirical Analysis on Determinants of Aid Allocation by South Korean Civil Society Organizations

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations volume 32, pages 151–164 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

This paper examines whether three sets of factors—humanitarianism, the South Korean government’s official aid, and concerns regarding performance—affect South Korean CSOs’ decisions regarding aid recipients and the amount of aid to them. The statistical results of these two-stage analyses show that South Korean CSOs take into consideration different sets of factors at each stage of their aid allocation decisions. While humanitarianism and ODA allocation are consistently important at both stages of South Korean CSOs’ aid allocation decisions, performance concerns for aid effectiveness and efficiency (language and religion) matter especially at the second stage. Governance level of a developing country has a positive relationship with aid allocation decisions, while the direction of influence changes when only recipient countries are included in the regression analysis. These findings suggest that concerns regarding accountability and autonomy of CSOs in the context of their growing engagement in development cooperation may be unwarranted.

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Notes

  1. For more comprehensive analyses on the relationship between the government and civil society in the South Korean context as well as from a comparative perspective, please refer to Kim (2000), Armstrong (2002), Alagappa (2004), Shin and Chang (2011) and Yoon (2016).

  2. In this paper, the average value of KRW–USD exchange rate for the given year is utilized.

  3. If subsidized funds to universities, university-affiliated hospitals, and research institutes are included, 494 projects were implemented.

  4. World Vision Korea’s website (https://www.worldvision.or.kr/business/worldvision/about_worldvision/about_worldvision.asp).

  5. Websites of Good Neighbors and Save the Children (https://www.goodneighbors.kr/; https://www.sc.or.kr/intro/spirit.do).

  6. KCOC website (http://www.ngokcoc.or.kr/theme/kcoc/03/society04_05.php).

  7. Although there is no single and universal definition of good governance (Weiss 2000), it is referred to as “sound development management” that is epitomized by “predictable, open, and enlightened policymaking (that is, transparent processes); a bureaucracy imbued with a professional ethos; an executive arm of government accountable for its actions; and a strong civil society participating in public affairs; and all behaving under the rule of law” (World Bank 1992: 1, 1994: vii).

  8. Included in the six dimensions of governance are voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption. The values range from − 2.5 (lowest) to 2.5 (highest). For more information, refer to the website of Worldwide Governance Indictors (http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#home).

  9. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) identifies Catholicism (or Roman Catholicism), Mormonism (including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), Orthodox Christianity, and Protestant Christianity as basic groups for Christianity.

  10. To confirm this possibility, we conduct an additional analysis involving a square-term of infant mortality rates. The result shows that there is a statistically significant effect on CSO’s allocation of aid to the squared term of infant mortality (-). This means that there can be an inverted U-shaped relationship between infant mortality rates and CSOs’ aid allocation.

  11. Although there is no clear and widely accepted threshold level of governance beyond which aid is expected to be more effective, LDCs have much lower level of governance than non-LDCs and the difference is statistically significant at the 0.01 level. The average levels of governance in all recipient countries, non-LDCs, and LDCs are − 0.48, − 0.34, and − 0.76 respectively. Similarly, African countries have lower levels of governance compared to recipient countries in other continents.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2018S1A3A2075117).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Korea Research Institute for Local Administration, 21, Segye-ro, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, 26464, South Korea

    Jungsook Kim

  2. Department of Public Administration, Yonsei University, Yonhee Hall 309-1, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722, South Korea

    Heon Joo Jung

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  1. Jungsook Kim
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Correspondence to Heon Joo Jung.

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Kim, J., Jung, H.J. An Empirical Analysis on Determinants of Aid Allocation by South Korean Civil Society Organizations. Voluntas 32, 151–164 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-020-00238-1

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Keywords

  • Civil society organization
  • Foreign aid
  • Humanitarianism
  • Official development assistance
  • Aid effectiveness
  • South Korea