Trust Citizens Research Articles

Concealment of administrative offenses by public officials: indicators and forms

Administrative offenses are offenses that can arise in various areas of activity involving public officials. These actions may have negative consequences for the public, undermining the principles of legality, transparency, and accountability. The article provides an in-depth analysis of the phenomenon of concealing administrative offenses by public officials and explores its impact on the legal system and society as a whole.
 The essence of the problem lies in the fact that public officials, who are obligated to act in the public interest and comply with the law, may conceal their wrongful acts or offenses. Such practices violate the fundamental principles of democracy and the rule of law, affecting the level of trust citizens have in government authorities and institutions. The article thoroughly examines the reasons that contribute to concealing offenses and also explores potential consequences for society.
 To effectively combat the concealment of administrative offenses, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the problem and identify ways to counteract this phenomenon. The article investigates various approaches to ensuring accountability for public officials and developing a system of control over their actions. The authors emphasize the need to create effective mechanisms of oversight and supervision, which will help prevent impunity within governmental structures and ensure the fair application of the law.
 All aspects explored in the article aim to promote the development of a legal culture, strengthen trust in government institutions, and ensure transparency and legality within society. The authors provide recommendations for improving mechanisms to detect and hold public officials accountable for concealing offenses. This will facilitate more effective functioning of state structures, enhance the quality of justice, and reinforce citizens’ trust in their government.

Driving public acceptance (instead of skepticism) of technologies enabling bioenergy production: A corporate social responsibility perspective

Public acceptance of industrial activities to implement bioenergy technologies is not self-evident. Little is known about how public acceptance of such industrial activities can be increased, though public acceptance is critical to make the transition towards renewable energy. In the current study, we use a corporate social responsibility framework to examine which types of citizen attributions of industry motives to implement bioenergy technologies are associated with public acceptance (versus skepticism) of these industrial activities, in terms of trust and greenwashing perceptions. Findings from a survey conducted in four European countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, Spain, Sweden; n = 3054) demonstrate that an important step towards public acceptance lies in citizens viewing this industrial activity as values-driven: the stronger the values-driven attributions are, the more (integrity-based) trust citizens have and the less this industrial activity is perceived as greenwashing. The strength of the relation between values-driven attributions with both trust and greenwashing is particularly pronounced among citizens who view themselves as knowledgeable on renewable energy technologies. Furthermore, citizen attributions to strictly self-benefitting causes (egoistic-driven, strategic-driven) are associated with less trust and stronger greenwashing perceptions. To conclude, the more citizens attribute industries’ implementation of bioenergy technologies to core social, moral values, the greater the public acceptance of these technological advancements.

In Bureaucrats we Trust? Good Governance and Trust in Civil Servants

While a sizeable literature exists that examines individuals’ trust in government, far less attention has been paid to analyzing trusting attitudes in civil servants - the agents of government with whom citizens have the most contact and interaction. Previous studies have found a noticeable link between public sector performance and the level of trust citizens have in public institutions. However, questions remain as to whether it is the outcomes that the public sector produces or otherwise the process that is used that most influences trusting attitudes. The data used in the analysis comes from the 2016 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) module “Role of Government V.” Data from national samples drawn from 23 OECD countries are examined using multilevel logistic regression. The results indicate that individuals living in countries characterized by better governance indicators are more trusting of civil servants than those in countries where procedural performance is poorer.

Knowing, relationships and trust-citizens' perceptions of whole genome sequencing for the Genetics Clinic of the Future.

The objective of this article is to present various views from different groups of citizens on the topic of whole genome sequencing (WGS). Sixteen focus groups were carried out in Italy and Austria which aimed at reflecting on the question of how to ensure that the implementation of WGS into the clinic is relevant and responsive to the needs of all members of society. In the qualitative analysis of the focus groups, three key themes (knowing, relationships and trust) were investigated. Although the majority of the participants favoured a person-centred care approach, we also found more radical perspectives in the relationship theme. This includes a self-centred orientation in which health care institutions should be prepared to integrate self-interpretation efforts of citizens and develop strategies to deal with them. Different attitudes towards getting to know genetic information (knowing) and varied approaches to decision-making for or against the use of WGS were observed. Personal capacities, in particular those to handle medical information, were emphasized as key factors. This means that it is important not to connect the desire not to know with a rejection of the technology per se but rather to support information and consultancy processes that effectively involve citizens. Concerning the third theme, we have underlined the important role of mistrust in addition to trust because it mostly points to areas or conditions considered problematic. Thus, mistrust is also a way to articulate critique, for example, of the profit-making with patient data, that has to be taken seriously by governance.

The origins of media trust in a young democracy

Declining trust in news media has often been recognized as one of the major challenges facing modern journalism with potentially detrimental consequences for democratic processes. In this article, we examine the predictive potential of cultural-political and performance factors on public trust in news media in the context of a young democracy. Specifically, we have analyzed to what extent citizens’ populist attitudes and perceptions of journalistic roles relate to the levels of media trust using data from an online survey of Serbian respondents (N = 200). The findings showed that support for populism did not significantly predict trust in news media in general after controlling for relevant factors, most importantly political trust. However, populist attitudes were found to be related to the amount of trust citizens have in distinct types of news media –i.e., those who support populism exhibited less trust in public broadcasters than in online news outlets. The analyses also revealed that the more Serbian citizens perceived news media as being successful at performing interpretive and mobilizing roles, the more trust they placed in the media.

Tariffa sostenibile: un ponte tra cittadini, operatori e regolatori

The paper presents the first national WTP/WTA survey conducted in Italy; moreover, the structure of the survey, allows us to study how information given to participants allows to update perceptions and hence WTP. By means of the Reasoned Action Approach, we identify the main determinants of WTP, and how those evolves thanks to information: generally it helps in empowering participants’ inclinations. We observe also misperception between objective quality and perceived quality; the knowledge of the Water Supply System reduces the misperception, and increases the WTP. Moreover the paper shows that participants exposed to information, update their WTP upward, choosing to sustain service’s quality. Channels which are crucial in shaping these decisions have to be found in the cost of the proposed improvement, in the current level of satisfaction and in the trust citizens are putting in water utilities. To conclude, information can be used to build tariff that tackles simultaneously sustainability from three different perspectives: social, financial and environmental; such an approach is calling also for a more engaging relationship between the stakeholder.

The Archivists’ Understanding of New Public Management and Outsourcing of Government Information: The Case of Sweden

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the archivists’ understanding of New Public Management (NPM) and its impact on their role as gatekeepers of government information. The paper therefore presents the views of the archivists who traditionally manage the creation, capture and organisation of information at the Swedish Transport Board (STB). Government information is key to institutional transparency and hence the stringent legal framework that governs it. Sweden is considered a highly transparent country and through its Press Act, which dates as far back as the 1766, all its citizens enjoy the right to access government information. This way, citizens can follow and scrutinise the government processes, which increases openness and trust in government institutions. However, this image of Sweden as open and transparent was challenged by the “Transportgate IT scandal,” which put it in the limelight of both national and international media. The scandal was due to outsourcing. Global governments these days operate under increased financial constraints, demands for efficiency and environmentally sustainable solutions and are therefore engaged in the outsourcing of government functions. Outsourcing is a strategy within New Public Management and is regarded as a solution to the above-mentioned constraints. Outsourcing is being done within the growing popularity of NPM, which is the adoption of methods and best practice from the private sector. However, among the challenges that outsourcing poses is data/information security. Yet, one of the building stones of trust in government institutions is secure and trustworthy government information. As the “Transportgate IT scandal” unfolded, the focus was on IT security and there was a total lack of discussion on the information contained in the systems. This paper used a case study as a method to explore the above issues. It applied a literature review and interviews as data gathering techniques. The results confirmed that the archivists had a full understanding of NPM and its impact on the management of government information. They are supposed to play a key role in the management of government information, but they were not at all involved in the outsourcing process. There is a danger that this development might impact the trust citizens have in government institutions since access to government information might be compromised. Therefore, outsourcing of government information should involve all the stakeholders and there should be well-formulated clauses to protect it.

A Case Study of Public Trust, Collective Action, and Water

Public trust is a critical component in the governance of public resources. The structure of that governance can have a profound impact on the level of trust citizens have in the way resources are allocated. This study relates the findings of an exit poll conducted during the primaries for the 2016 presidential elections. The questions related to the level of trust voters had regarding their local government and their subsequent attitudes toward the water conservation messaging from those governments. The findings support national survey findings that citizens in the United States have a high level of trust in local government, which enables longer-term solutions to collective action problems.

Citizens’ Trust in the Romanian Police

In order for the Romanian Police to be able to perform its tasks, it requires for citizens to trust their work. Because of the different opinions that have arisen over time, an analysis of the trust citizens have in this institution is a welcome one. This paper aims to discover the level of trust citizens have in the Romanian Police. Being an issue that weighs a lot in the public image and the sphere of social life, this research is a topical one and the analysis of the results could lead to better communication and the strengthening of the relationship between the citizens and the Romanian Police. The present paper aims to create an image of the confidence that the citizens of a region of North-East Romania have in the Romanian Police. The objective of this research is to measure the citizens trust in the staff of the Romanian Police, respectively the respect they have and at the same time the elements that could positively or negatively influence this aspect. Based on data analysis, the premise according to which the level of corruption influences the trust in the Police was found to be valid. Most subjects considered this to be one of the main reasons for which people began to lose their trust in the police. This factor is not isolated and is not only encountered within the Romanian Police, and it also does not refer only to this institution. Once corruption occurs at the level of the state, it is inevitable to spread it to the institutions is connected with. This does not prove that such actions actually take place, but citizens associate state and authority with the police, and that's where the suspicions arise. Also, if a policeman is discovered committing the crime of receiving bribery, not only will he suffer, but the whole institution he represents will. Behavior and training of police officers are two factors that have an important role in increasing or decreasing confidence in the Romanian Police. The image of the Romanian Police is influenced by several factors and the citizens must take into account not only the mistakes made by the staff working in this institution, but also the results obtained from the missions they have carried out. How to cite: Pasniciuc, L.I. (2017). Citizens Trust in the Romanian Police. Logos Universality Mentality Education Novelty, Section: Law, V (2), 48-66. https://doi.org/10.18662/lumenlaw.4

Does Trust Matter? An Inquiry on Citizens’ Trust in Public Institutions of Sri Lanka

Citizen trust in public institutions is an indication of successful governance as it has often been viewed as an important element of good governance. Citizen distrust in government and its institutions considerably affects the effectiveness and efficiency of public policies and their implementation. Since the independence, Sri Lanka has been regarded as a third world democracy with a strong welfare state system in which public institutions have played pivotal role in fostering democracy and citizen trust. Nevertheless, in the recent past, citizen trust in most public institutions has been alarmingly decreasing owing to politicization of public sector, service delivery, political and bureaucratic corruption, lack of transparency, accountability, ethnic prejudice and partiality in the working of the public institutions. In this backdrop, this paper examines the level of citizen trust in selected institutions and explores factors that influence on trust. The study adopted mixed method approach to explore the problem phenomenon. The study finds that ethnic majority has more trust in public institutions than that of minority, and identity, language of administration and lack of equal representation in bureaucracy are also considerably determine level of trust citizens have in public institutions. Further, political patronage in service delivery has subverted quality of public institutions and trust, interestingly, citizens those who support and being affiliated with ruling party tend to have more trust in government. Police and village-level officers are least trusted owing to endemic corruption.

Do Public Officials Trust Citizens? A Welfare State Perspective

AbstractIn this exploratory study, we investigate whether public sector officials and non‐public sector officials differ in the trust they have in members of society and whether this difference is associated with the welfare regime in which they work. Using survey data from the sixth round of the European Social Survey, we compare public sector officials' trust to that of non‐public sector officials in 13 countries with four different forms of welfare regimes. Our results demonstrate that public officials have a higher level of trust than non‐public officials do. Furthermore, trust among both public and non‐public sector officials is much higher in social‐democratic regimes, followed by corporatist countries, liberal regimes, Israel (as a unique case) and, lastly, southern European regimes. As expected, public officials' degree of trust reflects the general trends of their societies. Interestingly, in social‐democratic regimes, differences between trust among public and non‐public officials are the highest compared to the other regimes. In addition, an individual‐level analysis in five countries illustrative of each welfare regime indicates that while income, belonging to a minority group, and age are significant factors in explaining public officials' trust, socio‐demographic variables contribute little to the differences between public and non‐public officials. Given the critical role of trust in the functioning of the welfare state, our results imply that further awareness and mechanisms for increasing the degree of trust of citizens among public officials are warranted.

Trust in public institutions – spillover and bandwidth

ABSTRACTThe article raises the question of whether there is a relationship between the trust that citizens have in people and the trust they have in various institutions such as public administration and media/press. The data were collected from two major surveys, and the universe is limited to citizens of two Norwegian counties. The analyses show that there is a spillover effect between the trust that citizens have in people and institutions (in general) and the degree of trust citizens have in the various particular institutions. Trust between persons, and between persons and institutions, appears to have a bandwidth-type structure. These aspects or factors can be grouped into personal trust, public institutional trust and media/press trust. These different factors are correlated with each other.

Інтеркультурність як чинник формування соціокультурного капіталу міста

The purpose of the study is to examine interkulturell as an urban phenomenon in the aspect of its impact on social capital of Melitopol. Intercultural component of social and cultural capital defined in such terms as: the positive perception of residents of their city as an intercultural, pride in your status, the presence of intercultural social communication different types of social trust in the national-cultural societies, relevant to the activities of the city government on policy interculturall. Research methods – questionnaire survey. The total sample size (n) is 2,400 respondents, the statistical error Δ±2,3%, confidence level P=0,95. The sample is representative one.In the city there is a specific resource identity, which is manifested in shared values, symbolic images, among which interkulturell takes an important place. Urban society has found a low level of trust between the citizens, аt the same time on the background of deficit of social trust citizens have demonstrated a significant level of confidence in the national-cultural societies of the city.In the city there is dense interactive communication with representatives of ethnic communities, and relations between ethnic groups are positive. The social communication between ethnic communities is a particular resource accumulation of social and cultural capital. The study showed that ethnic communities are quite integrated into the socio-cultural and public space of the city. It is shown that interkulturell is a significant resource accumulation of social and cultural capital which can be converted into political capital and consolidate urban community in the civil integrity.

10.5937/pravzap0-6011 = Judicial reform in Serbia and negotiating chapter 23: A critical outlook

A sound and independent judiciary is a precondition for accomplishing the rule of law. Sound judiciary and citizens' trust in it are of critical importance in any state. However, the attainment of true judicial independence is a task faced both by old democracies and transition countries. For countries facing the challenge of EU accession, such as Serbia, good judiciary is not only an immanent value to be obtained, but will also be a key issue during the negotiation process. Since the adoption of the new constitutional framework in 2006, Serbia has embarked on the task of improving its judicial system. Unfortunately, this process was carried out under strong political influences, and had a devastating effect on the Serbian judicial corps, at the same time undermining any trust citizens had in the judicial force. Following the change of the political majority in the Parliament and the changes in government, the Serbian Ministry of Justice has undertaken the task of formulating a new Judicial Reform Strategy and Action Plan for its Implementation, which will be the core instruments to be used in the attempt to attain the two above-mentioned objectives: establishing sound and independent judiciary and meeting the relevant EU accession benchmarks. In this paper, the authors will give their critical account of the Serbian National Judicial Reform Strategy 2013-2018 and the Action Plan for its Implementation, identifying its major deficiencies and drawbacks. The authors will also analyse the planned and implemented changes of the Serbian regulatory framework.

Construction, dimension reduction and uncertainty analysis of an index of trust in public institutions

Research on social capital in general and trust in particular is markedly increased. The worldwide problem of low and decreasing levels of trust in many public institutions is greatly debated. This is a very important problem because the trust citizens have in public institutions may foster democratic practices and facilitate better provision of public services. Moreover, trust is a central element of social order and survival of any democratic regime: it affects institutional performance, wellbeing, economic development and crime reduction. Public institutions should pay very much attention to citizens’ trust in them and in particular when introducing reforms aiming at improving their functioning. Trust is difficult to be assessed due to its quite elusive meaning. An index of general trust in public institutions is proposed within the framework of composite indicators. It is shown how to reduce the dimension of the index by finding out the most and least important aspects of it. Uncertainty analysis is used to test whether dimension reduction results are robust or not with respect to plausible changes in variable values and variable transformations. An application to data from the European Social Survey is discussed. The results show the very important role of the trust in politicians and political parties in explaining the level of general trust in public institutions.