Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This study examines how international students organize social support in a non-urban campus shaped by spatial constraints and limited institutional resources. Focusing on Korean exchange students at a U.S. university, it reframes social support as a process that emerges through everyday practices rather than as a static resource. Drawing on Social Practice Theory, the study analyzes how support is produced through the interaction of materials, competencies, and meanings. The findings show that support is not readily available within the institutional environment but is actively constructed through ongoing practices involving information-seeking, mobility coordination, relationship-building, and digitally mediated communication. These practices are shaped by spatial conditions and require continuous adjustment and interaction with others. The study contributes to international student research by conceptualizing support as an emergent, practice-based process shaped by spatial constraints and digital mediation, and by highlighting how non-urban contexts actively structure the organization of support in everyday life.
DOI: 10.32674/3af5et66
Authors: Jungsuk Woo, Hyokju Maeng, Hyunjin Kwon, Jihyun Woo
Institutions: Eastern New Mexico University, Newcastle University
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225328615