Compensation Levels and Collective Resistance Intentionality in Development-induced Displacement Projects: The Moderating Role of Trust in Government

This study examines the mediating role of trust in government on the relationship between fear of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) and compliance with social distancing. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted among 740 Jordanian citizens, and path analysis (SmartPLS 2.0) was conducted to analyze the data. Results show that fear of COVID‐19 has a positive effect on both compliance with social distancing (t = 6.777, p = .000) and trust in government (t = 7.968, p = .000); trust in government has a positive effect on compliance with social distancing (t = 8.502, p = .000); and trust in government partially mediates the relationship between fear of COVID‐19 and compliance with social distancing (Sobel test = 6.17, p = .000). The effect of fear of COVID‐19 on compliance with social distancing, with trust in the government as a mediating variable, is greater than the direct effect without the mediating variable. Therefore, it is suggested that for social distancing measures imposed by the government on citizens to be effective, policymakers must work to enhance citizens' trust in the government and its measures aimed at curbing the outbreak of COVID‐19. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

China's one-child policy was in effect from 1982 to 2015. However, the literature examining the association between people's trust in local government and intergenerational transmission of fertility intentions is scarce. To fill this gap, we investigated the impact of individuals' sibship size on their ideal number of children, the mediating effect of their trust in local government on the issue of fertility between two successive generations, and the moderating effect of education level on sibship size related to trust in local governments. Based on the 2019 Chinese Social Survey data, 2,340 respondents aged 18-35 participated in the analysis. The results showed that (i) individuals' number of siblings significantly positively predicted their ideal number of children; (ii) individuals' number of siblings significantly negatively predicted their trust in the local government, which in turn significantly negatively influenced fertility intentions; (iii) the mediating mechanism was significant in residents with higher levels of education, but not in people with lower degrees of education. Fertility-boosting incentives can prioritize couples who are the only child in their family. It is necessary for local governments to improve their credibility and strengthen their pregnancy-related communication with groups with higher levels of education.

Since COVID‐19 was declared a global pandemic, scholars and practitioners have put much effort into testing effective advertising strategies for COVID‐19 vaccinations. Guided by humor theories, this study aimed to examine (1) the effect of humor on persuading COVID‐19 vaccination and (2) the moderating role of trust in government for the unvaccinated population. Across two studies (college students and general adult populations), for lower trust in government individuals, through greater public service advertisement (PSA) processing depth and believability, there was a higher vaccination intention after the humor (non‐humor) advertisement. For higher trust in government individuals, there was evidence that the vaccination intention was lowered after the humor (vs. non‐humor) message through lowered PSA processing depth and believability. This study expands humor theory into testing COVID‐19 vaccination messages while considering an individual psychological factor, trust in the government, that has emerged as an essential determinant to COVID‐19 messaging. The contributions to COVID‐19 vaccination advertising strategy and advertising to the unvaccinated population, in general, are discussed.

What accounts for the persistence of inefficient subsidies? What are the obstacles to their reform? We examine the role of trust in government among farmers in explaining support for reforming India’s energy subsidies. The subsidies under study hold back efforts to provide a reliable supply of agricultural power and contribute to the unsustainable extraction of groundwater. This water-energy nexus in rural India represents both a poverty-perpetuating policy equilibrium and a crisis in environmental governance. Informed by interviews and focus groups, we conduct an original survey of 2010 farmers in Bihar, Gujarat, and Rajasthan and analyze this data on the preferences of “vested interests”—those most affected by potential reform—to demonstrate the crucial role of political trust, especially trust in the national government, in predicting farmers’ political support for reforms. Our findings have practical implications for environmental governance and rural development and contribute to understanding the political economy of social policy reform in a developing democracy.

Citizens’ trust in government is crucial in managing crises that require coordination as it is linked to cooperative behaviour and sociability. Willingness to adopt appropriate health measures plays a decisive role in the effective containment of COVID-19 and other pandemics. Preventive health measures such as physical distancing, avoiding crowded places, wearing masks, and frequent hand washing reduce the spread of the virus. In this study, we examined how trust in government, risk perception, and knowledge were separately and jointly related to compliance with preventive health measures. We focused on young adults who are less prone to the disease than older demographics, who therefore have fewer incentives to protect themselves, and are accordingly pertinent for the study of public health and understandings of risk. Using recent data from a survey completed by 2,455 young people in Luxembourg, we employed structural equation modelling to assess our hypotheses. We found that trust in government, risk perceptions, and COVID-19 knowledge are important predictors of young people’s adherence to health measures and prosocial protection. Additionally, these factors are interrelated in several complex and non-linear ways. Our findings provide insights into young people’s specific health behaviours, highlighting the roles of risk perception and trust in government in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

Household acceptability of energy efficiency policies in the European Union: Policy characteristics trade-offs and the role of trust in government and environmental identity

This study examined differences between Arab and Jewish undergraduate students in their perceived academic challenges, COVID‐19‐related concerns, perceived social support and trust in the university and the government. It also examined factors associated with perceived academic challenges and the moderating role of trust in the university in the associations between COVID‐19‐related concerns and perceived academic challenges. The sample consisted of 2751 students: 2291 (83%) Jewish, 398 (15%) Arab and 61 (2%) ‘other’. Arab students reported higher COVID‐19‐related concerns and perceived academic challenges, and lower levels of perceived social support and trust in university and government than did Jewish students. Both Jewish and Arab students identified COVID‐19‐related concerns as a stress‐vulnerability factor for perceived academic challenges, whereas perceived social support and trust in the university were identified as resources for perceived academic challenges. No support was found for the role of trust in government in the face of perceived academic challenges nor for the moderating role of trust in the university in the associations between COVID‐19‐related concerns and perceived academic challenges. In conclusion, the need of Arab students for emotional and academic support needs to be acknowledged as part of the efforts to promote academic success during the pandemic.

This paper presents results from a public engagement effort in Nebraska, USA, which measured public opinions about governmental involvement in encouraging the use of electronic health records (EHRs). We examine the role of trust in government in contributing to public support for government involvement in the development of EHR technologies. We hypothesize that trust in government will lead to support for federal and state governmental encouragement of the use of EHRs among doctors and insurance companies. Further, because individual experiences with health-care professionals will reduce perceptions of risk, we expect that support for governmental involvement will be tempered by greater personal experience with the health-care industry. Examining a small survey of individuals on the issue, we find general support for both of our hypotheses. The findings suggest that trust in government does have a positive relationship with support for government involvement in the policy domain, but that the frequency of personal experiences with health-care providers reduces the extent to which the public supports governmental involvement in the development of EHR technology. This inquiry contributes to our understanding of public attitudes towards government involvement in EHRs in the United States specifically and contributes to social science examining links between trust in government and support for governmental activity in the emerging policy domain regarding electronic health records systems.

The coevolution of trust in government alongside the growth of government is an aspect of research on the latter topic that has not been explored. We consider this coevolution in the context of a political economy model and a public interest view of government growth and incorporate the role of trust in government. The negative association of the growth in government with trust in government is consistent with a political economy model of government growth, rent seeking/lobbying, trust, and productivity. Though such a model is broadly consistent with the historical data since the late 1950s, we present a more econometrically sophisticated examination of the data. In particular, we recognize the difficulties of statistical inference with non-stationary data and take the appropriate steps to deal with it. There is evidence that two aspects of government size – transfer payments and regulatory activity – align with the political economy model. Specifically, we find cointegration indicating the following: a negative association between trust and lobbying activity, a negative relationship between trust and each of these two measures of government, and a positive association of trust and productivity. However, other measures of government size do not produce as robust of findings. Also, we do not find evidence of positive associations of trust and government size nor of trust and lobbying, as might be expected from a public interest view of government.

The coevolution of trust in government alongside the growth of government is an aspect of research on the latter topic that has not been explored. We consider this coevolution in the context of a political economy model and a public interest view of government growth and incorporate the role of trust in government. The negative association of the growth in government with trust in government is consistent with a political economy model of government growth, rent seeking/lobbying, trust, and productivity. Though such a model is broadly consistent with the historical data since the late 1950s, we present a more econometrically sophisticated examination of the data. In particular, we recognize the difficulties of statistical inference with non-stationary data and take the appropriate steps to deal with it. There is strong evidence that two aspects of government size – transfer payments and regulatory activity – align with the political economy model. Specifically, we find cointegration indicating the following: a negative association between trust and lobbying activity, a negative relationship between trust and each of these two measures of government, and a positive association of trust and productivity. Though other measures of government size do not produce as robust of findings, we do not find evidence of positive associations of trust and government size nor of trust and lobbying, as might be expected from a public interest view of government.

Can the use of government Apps shape citizen compliance? The mediating role of different perceptions of government

Studies find that trust in the government is statistically related to support for gun control laws in the United States. Another finding in the literature is that Democratic partisans support gun restrictions at a statistically higher percentage than do Republicans—with the reverse relationship existing for loosening gun laws. While a recent study did find an interactive relationship between trust in government and political ideology (Ryan et al. in Polit Behav 44(2):725–748, 10.1007/s11109-020-09633-2, 2022), no study explores whether the impact of trust in government on support for gun reform is, in fact, a function of partisanship. In this study, we test whether there is an interactive relationship between trust in the government and partisan identification in predicting support for gun reform. Using the 2022 Cooperative Election Study (CES), we estimate logistic regression models that find an interactive effect between trust and partisanship. For Republicans, an increase in trust in government leads to a dramatic increase in support for gun control proposals, and a substantial decrease in support for gun rights expansion. For Democrats, trust in the government has almost no impact on support for gun reform. Further, we find that political ideology has only a small substantive relationship with attitudes on gun reform when interacted with both partisanship and trust in the federal government. The practical takeaway is that to increase support for gun control among Republicans, advocates must also recognize the role of governmental distrust in attitude formation among this partisan group.

This study evaluates the relationship between community perception of government’s effectiveness and trust in government at the local level. Using the Festival of Arts and Culture hosted in Limbe, Cameroon, the study evaluates how citizens’ experiences of a service delivery influence their trust in the government, and the mediating effect of economic, social, and political factors. Trust is evaluated using three measures: competency, integrity, and responsibility. A framework that distinguishes between broad and narrow measures of economic effectiveness is proposed and tested using an ordered logit model. Findings from data generated from 324 event attendees indicate that citizens’ perceptions of broad measures of economic effectiveness is influenced by the social and political environment, which in turn influences their trust in the local government. They are, however, able to separate the socio-political context from the economic when asked about narrow measures of economic effectiveness. These findings are relevant for political planners, analysts, and policymakers seeking to foster political trust and support.

Although the health and economic risks of COVID-19 may differ for higher- and lower-socioeconomic-status (SES) populations, some studies found that people with lower SES do not necessarily experience more psychological panic. In this research, we examine how SES is related with psychological panic during the COVID-19 pandemic using a large nationwide Chinese sample. Participants were 933 adults (mean age = 30.04, SD = 8.19) who completed an online questionnaire between 11 and 12 February 2020. Lower SES individuals have higher trust in government and thus experience less psychological panic, and the indirect effect of this trust suppresses the direct negative association between SES and psychological panic. In addition to this difference in trust in government between lower- and higher-status individuals, the indirect effect of the trust only exists among people with low (not high) authoritarian personalities. This study provides evidence that political trust may serve as a buffer, suppressing the negative association between SES and psychological panic; thus, policies and actions enhancing political trust are vital to support the mental health of individuals with lower SES during the pandemic, especially for citizens with low authoritarian personalities.

The COVID‐19 pandemic has led to an upswing in conspiracy theory beliefs, which creates challenges for effectively countering the pandemic, with higher rates of COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy found among conspiracy theorists. Research suggests health risk perceptions, trust in government and anomie may mediate the relationship between COVID‐19 conspiracy theory beliefs and vaccine hesitancy. However, the mediating role of trust in government and anomie on vaccine hesitancy have not been empirically examined in the context of COVID‐19, and it is not clear whether different conspiracy theories have distinct mediational pathways to vaccine hesitancy. The current study examines the extent to which perceptions of the health threat posed by COVID‐19, trust in government and anomie can explain the relationship between distinct COVID‐19 conspiracy theories and COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy. Drawing on data from a national online survey of 779 Australian adults, a series of path analyses examining the influence of three distinct conspiracy theories on vaccination hesitancy revealed two key mediational pathways, which varied across conspiracy theory types. Anomie and perceptions of the health threat posed by COVID‐19 were the most common mediators of this relationship. Implications for COVID‐19 vaccine hesitancy and for conspiracy theory research are discussed.