Trust in Top Leadership of Africa: A Search for Explanatory Factors Beyond Performance and Governance Quality

Abstract

Despite poor governance and low performance, different surveys, such as the World Value Surveys and the Afrobarometer, show that on average there is high trust in political leadership and public institutions in different African countries. By analyzing recent data from the Afrobarometer the present study tries to look for a possible explanation for such inflated trust. It finds that a societal culture of high power distance contributes to higher trust in the political leadership of African countries. The study also finds that a higher level of educational attainment reduces such power distance as well as trust in leadership. This may indicate that education is important to create more critical citizens, which also helps to reduce blind trust in authority and encourages more objective assessment of the performance of the leadership.KeywordsInstitutional TrustAfricaPerformanceGovernance Quality