Trust as a factor in the image of social institutions (According to sociological studies in St. Petersburg)

Abstract

The image, i.e. perception of the social services’ activities supporting population is one of the important aspects of functioning of such organizations. The aim of the image formation is creating, maintaining and strengthening positive public opinion concerning the system of social protection of population and the quality of social services. The purposeful formation of positive image becomes an essential task for social services and experts since it defines the degree of public confidence in the state. The article presents the analysis of the public social services’ image through the lens of the trust factor. The authors identify the following indicators to determine the level of confidence: evaluation ofquality of services by population, demand for various types of social services, confidence of the interaction between citizens and state social services’ experts. In order to identify the evaluation given by St. Petersburg residents to the quality of received services in the city social and in-demand services, the SPSU opened Resource Center “Center for Sociological and Internet Research” has conducted phone surveys in July, 2012 and repeatedly in summer of 2013. 1005 respondents participated in the 2012 phone survey, and 1002 — in 2013. The unified tool (a questionnaire jointly developed by the authors and the Resource Center’s experts) was applied in the research. The collected data are analyzed in the article. Refs 15. Tables 3.