Despite the growth of literature on country attractiveness covering a wide range of research areas, minimal effort has been expended on its conceptualization in public administration. This article seeks to add to previous scholarly works by clarifying the concept and operationalizing its multi-dimensions to explain the effects of the attractiveness of nations based on theoretical grounding. More specifically, by examining prior studies in international business, tourism and migration research, the article attempts to reorganize the constituent elements of the concept into a multi-dimensional framework from a sustainable development perspective. This can be broken down conceptually into three spheres: economic, social and environmental attractiveness. The theoretical background for each dimensional effect is taken from signaling and soft power theories. The article presents a synthesis of the concept intended to cover all aspects of the empirical findings.

Points for practitioners

As globalization results in more and more competition, it is imperative that every country employ marketing and promotion strategies/policies to raise global public awareness of its image to stakeholders including companies, customers, citizens, tourists and highly-skilled migrants. Therefore, public administration researchers and policy makers must take into account the concept of country attractiveness, the core element of a country’s soft power, as it can play a key role in enhancing the success of the strategies and policies of countries in the various fields of international competition.