Abstract
AbstractWe examine the cultural context for individual's trust in public institutions. To shed some light on possible cultural explanations from a more comparative perspective and cover a wider set of cultural aspects, we use indicators of cultural dimensions by Kaasa et al. (2014) based on Hofstede's (1980) approach. Multilevel regression analysis is conducted with individual-level data from two waves of the European Social Survey (2008, 2010) and regional-level data from multiple sources. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to construct the indicators of social and institutional trust and corruption. Our results suggest that individuals tend to trust institutions less in regions with large power distance. Hence, an important key for governments being more successful in achieving their aims seems to be related to improving the sense of participation and civic responsibility.
Highlights
Institutional trust plays an important role in economic growth (Knack and Keefer, 1997; Sumanjeet, 2015; Hwang, 2017)
Institutional trust is essential in the governance of a modern state since enabling citizens to accept government authority supports the legitimacy, effective functioning, and stability of democratic systems (Mishler and Rose, 2005; Hooghe et al, 2015), as democracy cannot rely on coercion to the same extent as other regimes might (Hetherington, 2005)
Our results show that citizens tend to have less institutional trust in regions with larger power distances
Summary
Institutional trust plays an important role in economic growth (Knack and Keefer, 1997; Sumanjeet, 2015; Hwang, 2017). If government is perceived as trustworthy and is believed to enforce the law, assure property rights and keep tax legislation stable, more investment and other economic activity can be expected (Knack and Keefer, 1997). The spread of democratic systems has been concomitant with a decline in institutional trust (Zmerli, 2012), increasing the importance of understanding its determinants. The focus has been on government institutions and citizens’ personal perceptions of political corruption and their social trust (Rothstein and Teorell, 2008). Cultural aspects should be considered to be determinants of an individual’s institutional trust. According to social influence theory (Kelman, 1958; 1960), an individual’s attitudes and beliefs are influenced by the referent others surrounding him or her
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