Trust In Public Institutions Research Articles

Institutional trust paradox: understanding the dynamics of trust among different ethnic groups in Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT The article explores institutional trust dynamics in Sri Lanka and asks what accounts for varying levels of trust different ethnic groups have in governance institutions in the post-war context. Three decades of ethnic conflict, the emergence of ethno-religious polarisation since the end of civil war, militarised ethnocracy, and the majoritarian ethnocratic state all highlight the need to understand these dynamics. The article presents the results of twonationally representative surveys on institutional trust in Sri Lanka (2015 & 2020), which showed a puzzling trend: in 2015, minorities had higher trust in public institutions, whereas, in 2020, the same minorities had lower trust. The study finds that citizens’ evaluation of public institutions is affected by ethnic cleavages, institutional fairness, and perceived performance. On the one hand, Sinhala–Buddhist ideology and dominance of ethnic majority in public institutions are more likely to determine institutional trust among the ethnic majority Sinhalese; on the other, perceived injustice and unfair treatment shapes institutional trust among the ethnic minorities. Overall, the study finds that an increase in institutional performance may not be sufficient; institutionalising equal treatment, fairness, and enhancing governance quality are necessary to enhance institutional trust among all ethnic groups in ethnically polarized societies.

Novel welfare state responses in times of crises: the COVID-19 crisis versus the Great Recession

AbstractUsing microsimulation tools, we explore the social policy responses to the Great Recession and the COVID-19 crisis, and their impact on preserving living standards in Ireland. During the Great Recession, the focus was on cost reduction. By contrast, during the COVID-19 crisis, the focus was on mitigating the impact on household incomes. In addition, an innovation in joint public and private responses emerged through social partnership. We find a stronger policy response during the COVID-19 crisis than the Great Recession. The COVID-19 crisis was more rapid, leaving more individuals out of work, thus family support was weaker. This was compensated by stronger private support through social partnership. Consequently, those with lower incomes had larger disposable incomes at the onset of the crisis; an effect that reduced with policy learning. We find increasing trust in public institutions during the COVID-19 crisis as opposed to a decline during the Great Recession.

"Building and Maintaining Trust in Public Institutions During the Coronavirus Pandemic. A Theoretical Perspective"

The aim of the article is to explore strategies that can be used to build and maintain trust in public institutions in times of crisis. It is well documented that trust in public institutions facilitates citizens’ compliance with restrictive measures, and therefore it is an important resource in times of crisis. In particular, we highlight the importance of crisis communication strategies in a changing and uncertain environment, maintaining transparency and credibility of public institutions, demonstrating empathy, competence and openness, educating stakeholders and the public, and collaborating with relevant stakeholders. In the final part of the paper, we reflect on how strategies to build trust in non-crisis situations are different from the strategies adopted during crisis situations. The analysis is based on the systematic analysis of journal articles published on the topic of trust in public institutions since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Middle-class people imagining democratic attitudes: the Pakistani experience

PurposeMeasuring and understanding the dynamics of democracy as well as democratic attitudes of people have become a big challenge for every democratic state. The study proposes the investigation of middle-class peoples’ attitudes towards democracy in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a deductive approach based on cross-sectional data from Pakistan’s middle-class people. The researchers use a survey questionnaire through a convenience sampling technique. Finally, the study utilizes 1854 samples to conclude the findings.FindingsThe evidence confirms that trust in public institutions and political engagement positively and significantly impact peoples’ democratic attitudes. In addition, the investigation witnessed the preference for democracy also supports understanding middle-class peoples’ democratic attitudes.Practical implicationsThe study would provide an endorsement for politicians of Pakistan to perceive the inclination of middle-class people towards democracy. The study would guide the researchers and policymakers and intellectualize the middle-class peoples’ opinions and attitudes. Moreover the study would support reflecting the public confidence in decision making and ability to deliver. Finally the study findings would contribute to the literature of political science and democracy to understand democratic attitudes mainly focusing on middle-class populations.Originality/valueThis study empirically confirms the Pakistani middle-class peoples’ attitudes towards democracy.

Trusting COVID-19 vaccines as individual and social goal.

Trust in vaccines and in the institutions responsible for their management is a key asset in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. By means of a structured multi-scales survey based on the socio-cognitive model of trust, this study investigates the interplay of institutional trust, confidence in COVID-19 vaccines, information habits, personal motivations, and background beliefs on the pandemic in determining willingness to vaccinate in a sample of Italian respondents (N = 4096). We observe substantial trust in public institutions and a strong vaccination intention. Theory-driven structural equation analysis revealed what factors act as important predictors of willingness to vaccinate: trust in vaccine manufacturers (which in turn is supported by trust in regulators), collectivist goals, self-perceived knowledgeability, reliance on traditional media for information gathering, and trust in institutional and scientific sources. In contrast, vaccine hesitancy, while confined to a minority, is more prominent in less educated and less affluent respondents. These findings can inform institutional decisions on vaccine communication and vaccination campaigns.

Does it Matter for CBDC Design? Privacy-Anonymity Preferences from the Side of Hierarchies and Egalitarian Cultural Patterns

Abstract Evolution of digital money demonstrates that CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency means a digital form of traditional fiat currencies) design is really challenging. While technically possible CBDC solutions are visible, much of institutional aspects are rest to be unsolved. One of the issues is a degree of privacy and anonymity. All historical forms of money had intrinsic property of non-traceability of transactions and only now this feature of non-digital money is recognized as strong institutional advance. At the same time, privacy and anonymity preferences could relate to cultural attitudes. However, money may distort expected logical relations between such patterns like “less hierarchies more privacy-anonymity” or “more egalitarianism less privacy-anonymity”. This potentially means that money may posit extra propensity to privacy-anonymity that is going beyond the cultural attitudes. Basing on the survey, we demonstrate some contradictions in how respondents perceive the preference of functional usability over anonymity of transactions. The same is relevant when cultural patterns are taken into account. It is more likely to find cultural closeness across respondents from different regions than strong determinacy of privacy-anonymity preferences by propensity to hierarchies or egalitarianism. Additionally, we checked hierarchies or egalitarianism attitudes by additional questions and found some mixed results. Also, we found some conformism culture (meaning unstable preferences) and rely it with lack of trust in public institutions. When centralized money are less trusted people faster agree to sacrifice anonymity in the benefits of functionality. The main take away is that it is unlikely to expect the unity of optimal CBDC design across countries. Aside of behavioural distortions, culture still matter and it is likely to expect future variety of digital money from functional usability privacy-anonymity trade-off.

Explaining interpersonal differences in COVID-19 disease prevention behavior based on the health belief model and collective resilience theory: a cross-sectional study from Bolivia

BackgroundGovernments have attempted to combat the COVID-19 pandemic by issuing guidelines for disease prevention behavior (e.g., wearing masks, social distancing, etc.) and by enforcing these guidelines. However, while some citizens have complied with these guidelines, others have ignored them or have even participated in large-scale protests. This research aims both to understand the causes of such variation in citizens’ adherence to government guidelines on disease prevention behavior and to extend the scientific literature on disease prevention to account for the collective resilience of a society to diseases. Thus, this research draws on the health belief model and collective resilience theory to develop hypotheses about the determinants of a citizen’s disease prevention behavior. These hypotheses deal with how citizens’ vulnerability, attitudes toward disease prevention, and social orientation are associated with COVID-19 prevention behaviors.MethodsFrom March 24 to April 4, 2020, a cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Bolivia. It included questions on demographic characteristics, chronic health problems, emotional burden, attitudes towards preventive behaviors, trust in public institutions, and culture. Among 5265 participants who clicked on the survey, 1857 at least partially filled it out. After removing data with missing responses to any variable, the final sample consists of 1231 respondents. The collected data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling.ResultsRegarding a citizen’s vulnerability, chronic health problems have a U-shaped association with disease prevention behavior. Moreover, age, female gender, and worries have positive associations with disease prevention behavior, whereas depression showed a negative association. Regarding attitudes toward disease prevention, trust in public institutions, and attitudes toward social distancing, a government-imposed lockdown and the enforcement of this lockdown showed positive associations with disease prevention behavior. Regarding social orientation, individualism and collectivism both have positive relationships with disease prevention behavior.ConclusionsIn the COVID-19 pandemic, a citizen’s low vulnerability, weak social orientation, and beliefs about low benefits of disease prevention behavior are associated with poor compliance with guidelines on disease prevention behavior. More research on these associations would help generalize these findings to other populations and other public health crises.

Measuring Political Trust: Recognising the Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions

Citizens’ trust is fundamental to the proper functioning of public institutions. This paper exploreshow the construct of ‘political trust’ can be measured to reflect the underlying theoretical factors driving trustlevels. It proposes a quantitative methodology to develop a scale that measures trust in public regulatoryinstitutions. Some measurements of trust are dependent on a scale for questions such as ‘What is your level oftrust in…?’ Alternatively, composite indicators are used, based on, for example, trust levels in a set of publicinstitutions. Such measures do not recognise what influences a citizen’s trust. The methodology presentedhere is also a composite measure but incorporates nine drivers and their extent of influence on a citizen’strust. These drivers, identified through a literature review on political trust, include consistency, transparency,outcomes, competence, integrity, openness and inclusiveness, fairness, reliability and responsiveness. Theproposed methodology follows four steps: (i) It determines drivers that citizens recognise as influential ontheir trust in a regulatory institution; (ii) it establishes the extent to which the drivers are influential; (iii) theinstitution is rated on a scale for each factor; and (iv) each factor rating is weighted on the extent of itsinfluence and a weighted average is computed to determine the level of trust. This methodology was appliedto measure trust in Malta’s environmental authorities following a demerger. A survey was conducted with thequestionnaire’s design reflecting this methodology. The empirical findings confirmed that all these factors leadto trust, but variations in the extent to which each driver influences a citizen’s trust exist. Responsiveness,outcomes, integrity and openness emerged as slightly less influential on citizens’ trust, whereas fairness,consistency, reliability, transparency and competence were the most influential factors. Significant differencesare recorded when comparing methods of measuring trust for the two institutions. This composite measurerecognises the multidimensional nature of trust, is grounded in the construct’s theoretical foundations andprovides reasons for variations in trust levels. Institutions can adopt this approach as a tool to regularlymonitor citizens’ trust and identify areas requiring attention.

Private–public collaboration in Iceland: battling COVID-19 with deCODE genetics

Iceland’s 360,000-person population has been gradually rebuilding its trust in public institutions after the harsh financial crisis of 2008–2010. The country was once again shaken in 2020; this time by the arrival of COVID-19 with its extreme impact on the country, including its number one sector, tourism, which came to a grinding halt in March 2020. Iceland’s swift response to battle the pandemic garnered headlines around the world for its public–private collaboration with deCODE genetics, which used their deep genetics experience to develop and roll-out screening services and extensive analysis of the virus, thereby changing the trajectory of COVID-19 and permitting an earlier re-opening than most European countries. This article shows how the public–private partnership boosted the nation’s trust in institutions and bolstered the country’s resilience in a time of crisis.

We are in this together: stakeholder cooperation during COVID-19 in Romania

Romania is characterized in general by poor institutional capacity and low popular trust in public institutions. In this context, it is an unlikely case for an effective stakeholder cooperation in times of crisis. However, this article shows that during the pandemic, the structural vulnerabilities in the public system led to many solutions being delivered through public and private stakeholder cooperation. The health care system engaged with community stakeholders to complement public efforts in managing the pandemic. A consistent institutional approach towards public engagement can compensate for systemic vulnerabilities and adds to societal resilience in times of crisis.

Who wants to grow old in Welfare Sweden?

The research presented in this paper focuses on social media usage, specifically Facebook, in times of the Covid-19 crisis when some Swedish citizens lost trust in their official institutions. Once Sweden decided not to comply with WHO recommendations, the great majority of the Swedish population rallied around the flag in support of that move. For those who questioned this approach not much support was available, so they turned to social media. We ran a survey of 371 Facebook users gathered around the “Dr Whistleblower oxygen for all” group. Combining quantitative and qualitative analysis, in this study we analyse the role of social media in situations when people lose trust in public institutions and are left out. The most interesting and surprising result of this study is the discovery of fear for Dr Whistleblower’s future, and fear for participants’ own lives. We argue that in times of grave crisis, when we need reliable information the most, we turn to social media not only due to its immediacy but also due to its ability to connect us with a much wider circle of people than our close circle of friends can do. Then, more than ever, we look for trustworthy information, we express our fears and look for help online, thus seriously disrupting the traditional news landscape.

Trust in the U.S. Government and Its Health Agencies in the Time of COVID-19.

This article examines the factors affecting Americans' trust in their federal government and its health agencies during the COVID-19 public health crisis. More specifically, we examine the evolution of Americans' trust in their government and health system and how, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic response, it has been affected by multiple factors. Several academic journals, government policy recommendations and public health polls were evaluated to understand the public's trust in the federal government and its health institutions. Public trust in institutions during a global pandemic is essential in influencing adherence to a pandemic response (both non-pharmaceutical and medical interventions). Americans' trust in institutions is built and maintained by a variety of factors. We focus on: political polarization and involvement, media influence and health communications, history of systemic racism and socioeconomic inequalities, and pandemic fatigue. Based on the interplay of these factors, we conclude with recommendations for future pandemic response strategies.

To disclose or not to disclose? Factors related to the willingness to disclose information to a COVID-19 tracing app

ABSTRACT Contact-tracing apps have been identified as a promising technology to curb the spread of COVID-19. To be effective, a sufficient number of individuals need to install the app and disclose information like COVID-19 infection to such an app. Yet, usage data demonstrate that a large number of app users does not disclose COVID-19 infection to the app. Hence, in two studies (overall N = 1522), we investigate factors related to individuals’ willingness to actively disclose information to such an app. In a preregistered online experiment conducted two months before the app launch onto the German market, we find that disclosure willingness increases when the app’s prosocial benefit or a social-life-enabling benefit is emphasized (vs. no benefit emphasized). In a subsequent, quota-representative survey study conducted two months after the app launch onto the German market, we adapted and extended the Technology Acceptance Model 2 (TAM2) to the context of prosocial information sharing in tracing apps. We find that the perceived prosocial benefit of the app, trust in public institutions, and fear of COVID-19 are the relevant predictors. Moreover, we demonstrate that the relation between perceived prosocial benefit and disclosure willingness is moderated by perceived ease of use. Results are discussed with regard to effective implementation and communication strategies for tracing apps, and the general role of prosocial concerns for technology usage to address major societal challenges.

Trust in times of pandemics | Fact-sheets collection from the Portuguese COVID-19 pandemic Task Force on Behavioral Sciences

Trust is a multifactorial and dynamic interpersonal (and institutional) facet, highly sensitive to individual, social, political, and economic contexts. It is a crucial determinant for adherence to public health measures, especially when those measures are addressed to a large (or universal) group of citizens in scenarios of uncertainty, such as the COVID-19 pandemic scenario. Indeed, trust in public institutions, experts, and citizens is essential for effective cooperation and coordinated responses to pandemics. This paper discusses the concept of trust as a family of concepts, including trust, distrust, and mistrust. The importance of reciprocity in trust-based relationships is also highlighted, as a more long-lasting effective alternative to a “duty-to-trust” paternalistic and directive approach.

Legitimising Surveillance in Low-Trust Postcommunist Societies

Why do citizens in democratic states allow governments to monitor them? Studies note that consent to surveillance to a large extent depends on trust in public institutions. But how is surveillance legitimised in states where this kind of trust is low, as in most of the European postcommunist countries? Using data from three former communist states, this study investigates the role of trust in close social networks. The results show that so-called ‘particular social trust’ may work as a substitute for trust in institutions. Particular social trust may produce legitimacy for policy measures, in this case, surveillance.

Trust us, we know what we are doing: institutional trust in Croatia during the COVID-19 crisis

ABSTRACT Low levels of trust in institutions in a post-socialist context is a relatively well-documented finding across various disciplines. Building upon this, the paper adds new insights to this discussion by contextualizing institutional trust amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Croatia. Relying on the results from the national probabilistic sample, the authors explore how three sets of predictors – socio-demographic variables, individual characteristics (i.e., motivational orientations of authoritarianism and social dominance), and participants’ experiences during the coronavirus pandemic determine the level of trust in public institutions. Results unequivocally showcase a fairly weak relationship between authoritarianism and social dominance orientation with institutional trust, unlike situational experiences, which play the most significant role in explaining levels of institutional trust. Contrary to authors’ expectations, adherence to measures and worries about catching the COVID-19 disease in the future were not predictive for institutional trust.

Trust, distrust and radioactive waste management in contemporary Russia

Trust in public institutions in Russia is notoriously low. Yet trust in nuclear energy is, on the contrary, very high, with two-thirds of the population supporting its continued development. To understand this apparent paradox this article explores the meanings of trust with regard to the recently started process of siting repositories for radioactive waste (RW) in Russia as they are articulated in corporate and social contexts, in particular in the “closed” nuclear cities that will be the sites of repositories. We focus on the ways in which trust is defined by the promoters of the projects and by the residents of the hosting communities during public hearings related to the plans to build nuclear waste disposal facilities at a dozen of newly proposed sites. We argue that the hearings are less about trust building per se as they are about accommodating and neutralizing distrust by emphasizing the absence of better alternatives. Using examples from hearings, we discuss three main dimensions of trust: interpersonal, institutional and ideological, as we show the importance of the ideological component of trust that partially compensates for strong institutional distrust.

Study on the Impacts of Emergency on Economic, Environmental and Social Areas Using Mixed Methods Research

Mixed methods research methodology appears to be a suitable approach for researching complex phenomena such as emergencies. Researchers study the impacts on different areas such as economy, society, or environment, mostly in separate studies. To better understand the reality of emergencies, it is necessary to study the problem in the broadest possible context. So, examining those impacts in one single study is a challenge. The objective of this article is to process a comprehensive assessment of an emergency that has the potential to establish the basis of a robust tool for public managers to support their decision-making, using mixed methods research methodology. The crisis is an explosion of an ammunition storage site in the Czech Republic - the former satellite country of the Soviet Union. The sub-methods used in mixed methods research are analysis of data, interviews, questionnaire surveys, and field research. The main findings include that in the economic area, growth of public budget expenditures was found; in the environmental area, primary and inducted impacts have been proved. Survey also confirms that the emergency reduced the personal sense of security and trust in public institutions in the affected community. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2022-06-01-07 Full Text: PDF

When Does Transparency Improve Institutional Performance? Evidence from 20,000 Projects in 183 Countries

AbstractAccess to information (ATI) policies are often praised for strengthening transparency, accountability, and trust in public institutions, yet evidence that they improve institutional performance is mixed. We argue that an important impediment to the effective operation of such policies is the failure of bureaucrats to comply with information requests that could expose poor performance. Analyzing a new data set on the performance of approximately 20,000 aid projects financed by 12 donor agencies in 183 countries, we find that enforcement matters: the adoption of ATI policies by agencies is associated with better project outcomes when these policies include independent appeals processes for denied information requests but with no improvement when they do not. We also recover evidence that project staff adjust their behavior in anticipation of ATI appeals, and that the performance dividends of appeals processes increase when bottom‐up collective action is easier and mechanisms of project oversight are weak.

Ideas of Civic Education in Modern Republicanism

the article deals with the ideas of civic education discussed in modern republicanism. The political tradition of republicanism is focused on the problems of freedom and non-domination, political participation and collective decision-making, civic virtues and obligations. Starting from the ancient sources, republicanism emphasized the importance of civic education and the inseparable bond between pedagogy and politics. The article shows why contemporary theorists, notably Isolt Honohan, Andrew Peterson, and Jeffrey Hinchlief, believe that republican ideas about education will be highly sought for in today's society experiencing a crisis of political participation and of trust in public institutions. The ideas of civic education seem like an alternative to those models that consider education to be a market service and reduce it to the private sphere. Republican education implies a high degree of school self-government, the deliberation between students on moral and political issues, and has much in common with emancipatory theories of education. In conclusion, the article raises the question of the necessity for a philosophical conceptualization of childhood in relation to the development of a republican political project that relies on civic education.