Strategic public diplomacy: Cultivating relationships with foreign publics and measuring relationship outcomes using the Relationship Assessment of Diplomatic Interaction Outcome (RADIO) scale

In response to calls for a tool to measure public diplomacy effectiveness, this study was inspired by the organization-public relationship assessment (OPRA) scale in public relations to develop the Relationship Assessment of Diplomatic Interaction Outcome (RADIO) scale. Its purpose is to measure the perceived relationship quality between a country and its foreign publics. Political, economic, cultural, interpersonal and corporate interactions are proposed to be antecedents whereas positive and negative megaphoning behaviors are proposed to be outcomes. Perceived relationship quality in between the antecedents and outcomes classifies relationships into two types: experiential (those with direct experiences in terms of having visited a country) and reputational (those without such direct experiences). A total of 52 items is developed to measure perceived relationship quality. Four base dimensions are proposed for both experiential and reputational relationships, namely interactional bilateralism, power mutuality, empathy and trust. Two dimensions, namely relational continuation and relational satisfaction, are proposed for experiential relationships. Two dimensions, namely relational curiosity and relational attentiveness, are proposed for reputational relationships