The conceptual model of the relationship between institutional transparency, citizen trust and satisfaction (A case study of Tehran city, Iran)

Abstract

Trust, along with transparency, is an important indicator of a satisfactory relationship between a government and the public. Considering transparency as the key to trust in government, the purpose of this paper is to postulate a link between transparency and trust taking into account satisfaction as a psychological factor. This paper tries to find the answer of these questions: “Is there any significant relationship between institutional transparency and citizen trust? And what is the role of citizen satisfaction in this context?” In order to investigate these questions, through survey method of research, this paper presents the results of an experiment (N=384) testing three hypotheses by statistical analysis which involve the relationship between institutional transparency, citizen trust and satisfaction. Tehran municipality is elected as a specific institution. This study found that transparency will significantly increase citizen trust, and satisfaction will play a significant role in the relationship between transparency and citizen trust. As well, trust will increase satisfaction. This study found that transparency and satisfaction play a substantial role in enhancing citizen trust. Furthermore, transparency and citizen trust play a significant role in enhancing citizen satisfaction. The results show that among background variables (gender, age, education, income and history of residence) the two variables, education and income have a week significant relationship with trust.