한국 교육감선거의 순서효과에 대한 실험연구 [An Experimental Study on Order Effects in Education Superintendent Elections in Korea].

In South Korea's Education Superintendent elections, where political parties do not nominate candidates, the order or symbol of candidates listed on the ballot can influence voters' choices, which has been a persistent issue. However, existing studies that demonstrate order effects have limitations because they rely on aggregate-level data, such as electoral districts, which do not fully address the problem of omitted variables and fail to confirm order effects at the individual level. To overcome these limitations, this study uses a survey experiment to analyze whether order effects exist in Education Superintendent elections, what form they take if they do, and which voters are most affected by them. The findings can be summarized in three main points. First, simply being listed earlier on the ballot does not necessarily increase a candidate's vote share. Second, the choice made in partisan elections held simultaneously with the Education Superintendent elections tends to favor the candidates listed in same positions. This suggests that the perceived advantage of being listed in a earlier position in Education Superintendent elections is not due to the order itself but rather because candidates from the two major parties are usually given top positions in partisan elections, influencing voting choices in Education Superintendent elections. Lastly, the impact of choices made in partisan elections on the Education Superintendent candidate choice is primarily observed among voters with low levels of political knowledge.