Drawing on the literature of problem-oriented governance (POG) and social motivation for voluntary compliance, this study discusses how South Korea's efforts to cultivate distributed cognitions and build core capabilities of POG-reflective improvement, collaborative, and data analytic capabilities-contribute to the citizens' voluntary compliance with the current vaccination policy by improving trust and confidence. A systematic content analysis and documentation review of relevant policies, situation reports, after-action reports, official briefings, and news articles provide significant implications for both theories and practices of policy compliance and governance for effective and efficient management of many wicked problems like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19 vaccination; South Korea; Voluntary compliance; problem-oriented governance; trust and confidence.
© The Author(s) 2022.