Citizen Trust In Government Research Articles

Culture, compliance, and confidentiality: Taxpayer behavior in the United States and Italy

This paper analyzes the impact of confidentiality of taxpayer information on the level of compliance in two countries with very different levels of citizen trust in government – the United States and Italy. Using identical laboratory experiments conducted in the two countries, we analyze the impact on tax compliance of “Full Disclosure” (e.g., release of photos of tax evaders to all subjects, along with information on the extent of their non-compliance) and of “Full Confidentiality” (e.g., no public dissemination of photos or non-compliance). Our empirical analysis applies a two-stage strategy that separates the evasion decision into its extensive (e.g., “participation”) and intensive (e.g. “amount”) margins. We find strong support for the notion that public disclosure acts as an additional deterrent to tax evaders, and that the deterrent effect is concentrated in the first stage of the two-stage model (or whether to evade or not). We also find that the deterrent effect is similar in the U.S. and in Italy, despite what appear to be different social norms of compliance in the two countries.

Government-Driven Participation and Collective Intelligence: A Case of the Government 3.0 Initiative in Korea

The Park Geun-hye Administration of Korea (2013–2017) aims to increase the level of transparency and citizen trust in government through the Government 3.0 initiative. This new initiative for public sector innovation encourages citizen-government collaboration and collective intelligence, thereby improving the quality of policy-making and implementation and solving public problems in a new way. However, the national initiative that identifies collective intelligence and citizen-government collaboration alike fails to understand what the wisdom of crowds genuinely means. Collective intelligence is not a magic bullet to solve public problems, which are called “wicked problems”. Collective deliberation over public issues often brings pain and patience, rather than fun and joy. It is not so easy that the public finds the best solution for soothing public problems through collective deliberation. The Government 3.0 initiative does not pay much attention to difficulties in gathering scattered wisdom, but rather highlights uncertain opportunities created by collective interactions and communications. This study deeply discusses the weaknesses in the logic of, and approach to, collective intelligence underlying the Government 3.0 initiative in Korea and the overall influence of the national initiative on participatory democracy.

Exploratory Study of the Relationship between Social Integration and Citizen Trust in Government

Exploratory Study of the Relationship between Social Integration and Citizen Trust in Government

Culture, Compliance, and Confidentiality: Taxpayer Behavior in the United States and Italy

This paper analyzes the impact of confidentiality of taxpayer information on the level of compliance in two countries with very different levels of citizen trust in government – the United States and Italy. Using identical laboratory experiments conducted in the two countries, we analyze the impact on tax compliance of “Full Disclosure” (e.g., release of photos of tax evaders to all subjects, along with information on the extent of their noncompliance) and of “Full Confidentiality” (e.g., no public dissemination of photos or noncompliance). Our empirical analysis applies a two-stage strategy that separates the evasion decision into its extensive (e.g., “participation”) and intensive (e.g. “amount”) margins. We find strong support for the notion that public disclosure acts as an additional deterrent to tax evaders, and that the deterrent effect is concentrated in the first stage of the two-stage model (or whether to evade or not). We also find that the deterrent effect is similar in the U.S. and in Italy, despite what appear to be different social norms of compliance in the two countries.

The Influence of Private Health Care Financing on Citizen Trust in Government

Using individual-level data from the 2008 European Social Survey and country-level health care financing data we analyze the influence of private financing of health care on political trust in twenty-five European countries. Net of known predictors of trust at the individual and country level, we find that trust in government is significantly lower where the health system is financed to a greater degree by private sources. This negative relationship occurs because in countries with more private financing, low-income citizens perceive themselves to be at greater risk for not receiving needed health care. This perception of risk is associated with more negative evaluations of the performance of the health care system, which in turn is associated with less trust in government. When states do less to ensure the basic health care needs of members of society who are at greatest risk, these citizens may come to place less trust in government institutions. Hence, the increasing pressure on European governments to privatize the financing of health care in the wake of the financial crisis that is also characterized by growing income inequality threatens to make citizens trust government less. At the same time, implementation of the Affordable Care Act could signal a renaissance for political trust in the United States, if a growing role in the health care system is accompanied by a redistribution of risk.

Validating a scale for citizen trust in government organizations

Citizen trust in government at the macro level has been studied by public administration scholars for many years. To further our understanding, assessing trust at the meso level of government organizations is important to more precisely determine effects and antecedents of trust at the organizational level. The organizational trust literature has shown that organizational trustworthiness is multidimensional, but the extant literature has not validated such measures in a public administration context. The proposed scale builds on and adapts an existing organizational trust scale to a public administration context. The ‘Citizen Trust in Government Organizations’ scale is validated using data from two different samples (total n = 991), resulting in a scale of nine items measuring three dimensions: perceived competence, benevolence, and integrity. This scale can be used by other researchers and is valuable to gain a more specific and multi-dimensional understanding of trust in government organizations.Points for practitionersA major problem for government organizations worldwide is the lack of perceived trustworthiness by the public. To tackle this problem, a way to measure it is needed, but at the moment there are only generic measures to assert perceived trustworthiness in a government organization. This article presents a first validation and incorporates three dimensions: perceived competence, benevolence, and honesty. Practitioners can use this scale and adapt to their relevant local context to identify specific trustworthiness problems.

Trust in Government and the Willingness to Pay Taxes in Transition Countries

This paper examines citizen trust in government, willingness to pay taxes, and desire for redistribution in transition countries. A theoretical model of trust in government is developed explaining willingness to pay (WTP) for public goods and empirical models are estimated for improved public education, improved public health system, combating climate change, helping the needy, and income redistribution. Data are from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's Life in Transition Survey, 2010 (LITS II). Results confirm the theoretical model, with trust in government having a significant positive effect on WTP for public goods. Differences are found, however, among government institutions and public goods. Income is a significant factor contributing to trust in all social institutions, including government. Higher income citizens have greater WTP for public goods, including income redistribution. The possibility of upward mobility hypothesis is confirmed, with citizens expecting future income to be higher than current income being less supportive of redistribution.

First‐Hand Experience and Second‐Hand Information: Changing Trust across Three Levels of Government

AbstractLittle is known about how different sources of information drive citizen trust in government. To address that gap this article compares disaster evacuees to observers, noting how trust differs as attention to media coverage increases. First‐hand experience supplies information to update trust through biological and personal processes and performance assessments, while secondary sources provide information about other people's experiences, filtered through lenses that take an active role in crafting information. These two types of information have varying effects depending on the level of government being trusted. Using surveys administered a year after Hurricane Katrina, I find that Katrina evacuees have the highest trust in federal government, until they start paying attention to media coverage, and that attention to coverage has the most dramatic effect on these evacuees compared to all other groups. I also find that increasing attention to second‐hand information corresponds with higher trust in local officials, and that this effect decreases as the level of government increases. It appears media coverage creates a comparison in the mind of hurricane evacuees, causing them to update their performance assessments based on comparing their own experience to that which they observe, thereby updating their political trust.

Does Non-State Provision of Social Services Promote or Undermine Citizen Trust in Government? The Case of Health Care in Europe

What happens to citizens’ attitudes towards their governments when non-state actors play a prominent role in insuring citizens against the social risks that were once seen as central concerns of the welfare state? When private firms, religious groups, or NGOs provide social goods, governments may be robbed of opportunities to generate public trust. Alternatively, satisfied consumers of private services may come to trust the state more. Using individual-level data from the 2008 European Social Survey and country-level health care financing data we analyze the effects of private financing of health care on political trust in 25 European countries. Net of known predictors of trust at the individual and country level, we find that trust in government is significantly lower among at-risk individuals living in countries where the health system is financed to a greater degree by private sources. This negative relationship between private financing and trust in government is the outcome of a multi-step process in which low-income individuals report greater perceived risk of having unmet health care needs and, in turn, express less satisfaction with the heath care system, particularly in more privatized systems.

Internet, Trust in Government, and Citizen Compliance

This research investigates how levels of citizen trust in government and compliance are affected by citizens’ use of the Internet. Starting from the premise that information is a key determinant of public opinion and citizen behavior, this research explores the extent to which the time that citizens spend on the Internet affects their trust in government and compliance with government policies, compared with the influence of the traditional, offline, mass media modalities, such as newspapers. In addition, we also assess the impact of citizens’ use of e-government on levels of trust in government and compliance. The results of the analyses suggest that the more time individuals spend on the Internet, the lower their degree of trust in government and lower level of citizen compliance. However, our results also suggest that such negative effects of the Internet can be moderated through citizens’ increased use of e-government.

Linking transparency, knowledge and citizen trust in government: an experiment

Declining citizen trust in government is an important driver for NPM-style reforms. Increasing people’s knowledge by providing factual knowledge about government performance outcomes is seen as an important way of increasing citizen trust in government. Does this promise hold or is knowledge about performance outcomes not that important? Two rivalling hypotheses are being investigated. One proposition postulates a link between knowledge and trust, whereas the alternative hypothesis borrows from social-psychological research arguing that subconscious and affective cues are more important. In order to investigate this question, this article presents the results of an experiment ( N = 658) investigating the effect of performance outcome transparency on citizen trust in a specific government organization. Four groups visited different websites with varying degrees of transparency and performance outcome. The results demonstrate that the link between transparency and trust in a government organization is determined by a mix of knowledge and feelings. Further, the overall effect of transparency is limited. Pre-existing and fundamental ideas about what government does and whether it is benign or not are far more determining than a single experience with a government organization. This article concludes that knowledge about performance outcomes is only part of the link between transparency and trust, and that more realistic views about transparency’s effects should be developed. Points for practitioners Transparency is generally hailed by many as the key to trust in government. This study shows that the magnitude of transparency on citizens’ trust in government is often exaggerated as most people have pre-existing, fundamental beliefs about government which are only marginally influenced by transparency. However, transparency can contribute to maintaining existing trust levels through a mix of people’s cognition and feeling about government. Transparency is necessary, yet professionals in public management and administration should develop realistic expectations about what transparency can really achieve for trust in government.

Overcoming Negative Media Coverage: Does Government Communication Matter?

Public administration scholars often note that government should engage in more effective external communication to improve citizen trust and maintain political legitimacy. An important part of the belief is that more effective communication can lead to more favorable media coverage that ultimately shapes citizen trust in government. However, the link between government communication and media coverage remains empirically untested. Through a survey of 881 government and business communicators, this study tests the relationship between external communication activities and media coverage. The study shows that government organizations report being less likely to have favorable news coverage than their private counterparts, but most government organizations do report that their media coverage is favorable. Moreover, the results show that active media interaction, organizational support for communication, and adequate communication budget are associated with reporting more favorable coverage. In comparison, a different set of variables, except adequate communication budget, are found to affect whether business organizations report having more favorable media coverage.

Being transparent or spinning the message? An experiment into the effects of varying message content on trust in government

Computer-mediated transparency is widely acknowledged to be a powerful instrument to strengthen citizen trust in government. However, government websites are often used as a convenient way to spread 'spinned' policy messages with highly positive interpretations of government policies. This paper focuses on this particular element of transparency: the extent to which a policy message contains balanced information. A truly balanced message should also mention dissenting viewpoints of government policies. This study examines the effect on trust of a balanced message compared to messages subject to varying degrees of spin. An experiment was designed to compare the effect of a very positive policy message, a slightly positive message and a message containing both positive and negative information. The results demonstrate that a balanced message on a website about government policy leads to negative evaluations of government competence to solve policy problems. Further, less spin does not positively affect the perceived honesty and benevolence of a government organization. This study suggests that showing balanced content might not be helpful when it comes to increasing trust in government, and that people might even prefer a light form of spin on government information as it provides the image that government knows what it is doing and where it is heading.

Freedom of Information Around the World 2006: A Global Survey of Access to Government Information Laws

Freedom of information is an essential right for every person. It allows individuals and groups to protect their rights. It is an important guard against abuses, mismanagement and corruption. It can also be beneficial to governments themselves – openness and transparency in the decision-making process can improve citizen trust in government actions.FOI is now becoming widely recognized in international law. Numerous treaties, agreements and statements by international and regional bodies oblige or encourage governments to adopt laws. Cases are starting to emerge in international forums.Nearly 70 countries around the world have now adopted comprehensive Freedom of Information Acts to facilitate access to records held by government bodies and another fifty have pending efforts. A few countries have issued decrees or used constitutional provisions. Many countries have adopted other laws that can provide for limited access including data protection laws that allow individuals to access their own records held by government agencies and private organizations, specific statutes that give rights of access in certain areas such as health, environment, government procurement and consumer protection.Although FOI has been around for over 200 years, it is still evolving. Over half of the FOI laws have been adopted in just the last ten years. The growth in transparency is in response to demands by civil society organizations, the media and international lenders. Many of these new laws adopted innovative processes to improve access.However, there is much work to be done to reach truly transparent government. The culture of secrecy remains strong in many countries. Many of the laws are not adequate and promote access in name only. In some countries, the laws lie dormant due to a failure to implement them properly or a lack of demand. In others, the exemptions and fees are abused by governments. Older laws need updating to reflect developments in society and technology. New laws promoting secrecy in the global war on terror have undercut access. International organizations have taken over the functions of national government but have not subjected themselves to the same rules.

Misplaced Trust? Exploring the Structure of the E-Government-Citizen Trust Relationship

A growing body of research focuses on the relationship between e-government, the relatively new mode of citizen-to-government contact founded in information and communications technologies, and citizen trust in government. For many, including both academics and policy makers, e-government is seen as a potentially transformational medium, a mode of contact that could dramatically improve citizen perceptions of government service delivery and possibly reverse the long-running decline in citizen trust in government. To date, however, the literature has left significant gaps in our understanding of the e-government-citizen trust relationship. This study intends to fill some of these gaps. Using a cross-sectional sample of 787 end users of US federal government services, data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index study, and structural equation modeling statistical techniques, this study explores the structure of the e-government-citizen trust relationship. Included in the model are factors influencing the decision to adopt e-government, as well as prior expectations, overall satisfaction, and outcomes including both confidence in the particular agency experienced and trust in the federal government overall. The findings suggest that although e-government

Misplaced Trust? Exploring the Structure of the E-Government-Citizen Trust Relationship

A growing body of research focuses on the relationship between e-government, the relatively new mode of citizen-to-government contact founded in information and communications technologies, and citizen trust in government. For many, including both academics and policymakers, e-government is seen as a potentially transformational medium, a mode of contact that could dramatically improve citizen perceptions of government service delivery, and possibly reverse the long-running decline in citizen trust in government. To date, however, the literature has left significant gaps in our understanding of the e-government-citizen trust relationship. This study intends to fill some of these gaps. Using a cross-sectional sample of 787 end-users of U.S. federal government services, data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) study, and structural equation modeling statistical techniques, this study explores the structure of the e-government-citizen trust relationship. Included in the model are factors influencing the decision to adopt e-government, as well as prior expectations, overall satisfaction, and outcomes including both confidence in the particular agency experienced and trust in the federal government overall. The findings suggest that while e-government may help improve citizens’ confidence in the future performance of the agency experienced, it does not yet lead to greater satisfaction with an agency interaction, nor does it correlate with greater generalized trust in the federal government overall. Explanations for these findings, including an assessment of the potential of e-government to help rebuild trust in government in the future, are offered.

Fostering Green Communities Through Civic Engagement: Community-Based Environmental Stewardship in the Portland Area

Problem: Urban development can fragment natural habitats, alter hydrologic systems, and modify energy flows and nutrient cycles. The literature on mitigating ecological impacts of urban development contains extensive support for engineered infrastructure, but few studies have characterized the factors that foster effective involvement of community members in urban ecological restoration. Purpose: This article aims to explain why one community-initiated environmental stewardship program has been successful, and offers lessons on how to use community resources to establish similar programs elsewhere. We ask: (1) How can citizens become more involved in the stewardship of their local watershed? (2) What is the optimal mix of local technical expertise and community capacity? and (3) What innovations and accommodations must public agencies make to improve community involvement in environmental stewardship? Methods: We draw on data from surveys, interviews, and participant reports from 12 years of Portland's Community Watershed Stewardship Program (CWSP) to characterize the prerequisites to developing an effective community-based environmental management program. Results and conclusions: We conclude that programs encouraging the public to participate in environmental planning and stewardship need flexibility to allow innovation and accommodation in the planning process. We observe that community partners have great success completing projects they themselves initiate, and that are physically located nearby. We also find that developing a partnership with a local university was an important component of this effective environmental stewardship program. Takeaway for practice: Community-based watershed stewardship programs, if designed correctly, have the potential to increase citizen trust in government, improve the biophysical environment, and foster participants' ecological understanding. Involving the community in urban watershed management programs fills gaps between what public institutions can achieve and what the community needs. This coproduction provides opportunities for citizens to develop ownership of the local landscape, which may in turn increase the number of community groups involved, and the overall geographic reach of restoration projects. Research support: None

Connecting Neighborhood Councils and City Agencies: Trust Building through the Learning and Design Forum Process

Though citizen trust in government is very important for the legitimacy of the government, there is evidence to show that citizen trust in government is decreasing, not only in the United States of America but also all over the world. Scholars argue that citizen participation and collaborative processes involving citizen stakeholders in government decision-making could lead to increasing citizen trust in government. However, the argument that citizen participation in governance and citizen-government collaboration can lead to increased trust in governance from a conceptual or macro level perspective is difficult to visualize or establish empirically. We suggest that this collaboration and participation has to be at the experiential micro or local government level rather than at the conceptual macro level. Citizen participation in general has to translate into collaborative relationships between specific micro-level citizen organizations and city or local public agencies. We also propose that citizen participation mechanisms like collaborations and cooperative arrangements as well as the processes of collaboration are critical to establish the participation-trust causal relationship. We then present our Learning and Design Forum model as a process that facilitates a sustainable agreement between neighborhood councils and city agencies model for developing mutual trust and collaboration.

14. Arthur H. Miller. 1974. “Political Issues and Trust in Government: 1964–1970.” American Political Science Review 68 (September): 951–72. Cited 340 times

The importance of citizen trust in government derives from its role in democratic theory. Presumably, the decisions of trusted authorities and institutions are more likely to be accepted as legitimate and worthy of support than are those of distrusted leaders and institutions.

The Effects of E‐Government on Trust and Confidence in Government

Trust in government has been declining for more than three decades now. E‐government has been proposed as a way to increase citizen trust in government and improve citizen evaluations of government generally. Using two‐stage models to analyze recent Pew survey data, this research explores the relationship between e‐government use, attitudes about e‐government, and trust in government. There is a statistically significant relationship between trust and use of a local government Web site, as well as other positive assessments of federal and local governments. The evidence suggests that e‐government can increase process‐based trust by improving interactions with citizens and perceptions of responsiveness. The findings are theoretically important for reconciling the conflicting research on the effects of e‐government and for understanding variations by level of government. Citizen attitudes toward government, including trust, are core concerns for democratic governance and public administration.