IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiaeu/v23y2025i1d10.1007_s10308-025-00719-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managing the COVID-19 pandemic in varied frameworks of trust, transparency, and governance capacity: evidence from China, the UK, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

Author

Listed:
  • Dionysios Stivas

    (Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University)

  • Alistair Cole

    (Sciences-Po)

Abstract

By illuminating the mode of health crisis management in the four distinct jurisdictions of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the UK, this article considers how varying trust-transparency mixes provide a context for understanding the public governance of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article builds on publicly available surveys, governmental documents, and observations of the assessed administrations’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study covers the period between January 2020 and April 2022. We conclude that though trust is an important element for controlling the virus, transparency is the precondition for a longer-term resilient and sustainable policy response. Trust-transparency mixes matter because they feed through into governance capacity. While transparency is the prerequisite for a longer-term robust and sustainable policy response, trust is essential for managing the virus in the short term. Governance capacity needs to be understood as a contingent, context-specific quality, in the sense of a legitimate steering mechanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Dionysios Stivas & Alistair Cole, 2025. "Managing the COVID-19 pandemic in varied frameworks of trust, transparency, and governance capacity: evidence from China, the UK, Hong Kong, and Taiwan," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 81-98, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:23:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10308-025-00719-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10308-025-00719-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10308-025-00719-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10308-025-00719-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blair, Robert A. & Morse, Benjamin S. & Tsai, Lily L., 2017. "Public health and public trust: Survey evidence from the Ebola Virus Disease epidemic in Liberia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 89-97.
    2. Xiang Gao & Jianxing Yu, 2020. "Public governance mechanism in the prevention and control of the COVID-19: information, decision-making and execution," Journal of Chinese Governance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(2), pages 178-197, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Darin Christensen & Oeindrila Dube & Johannes Haushofer & Bilal Siddiqi & Maarten Voors, 2021. "Building Resilient Health Systems: Experimental Evidence from Sierra Leone and The 2014 Ebola Outbreak," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(2), pages 1145-1198.
    2. Kellner, Adrian & Martinussen, Pål Erling & Feiring, Eli, 2023. "Don't stand so close to me: Perceptions of others’ compliance with COVID-19 recommendations and support for strict policy measures in Norway," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    3. Shockey, James W, 2021. "Social Aspects of COVID Mitigation," SocArXiv sgjvp, Center for Open Science.
    4. Teresa Cuerdo-Vilches & Miguel Ángel Navas-Martín & Ignacio Oteiza, 2020. "A Mixed Approach on Resilience of Spanish Dwellings and Households during COVID-19 Lockdown," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-24, December.
    5. Barry Eichengreen & Orkun Saka & Cevat Giray Aksoy, 2024. "The Political Scar of Epidemics," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(660), pages 1683-1700.
    6. Matthias Flückiger & Markus Ludwig & Ali Sina Önder, 2019. "Ebola and State Legitimacy," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(621), pages 2064-2089.
    7. Bonwitt, Jesse & Dawson, Michael & Kandeh, Martin & Ansumana, Rashid & Sahr, Foday & Brown, Hannah & Kelly, Ann H., 2018. "Unintended consequences of the ‘bushmeat ban’ in West Africa during the 2013–2016 Ebola virus disease epidemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 166-173.
    8. Lewis Davis & Justin Esposito, 2023. "Social Disparities and Social Distancing During the Covid Pandemic," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 129-141, April.
    9. Nicholas Biddle & Matthew Gray & Ian McAllister, 2024. "Federalism and Confidence in Australian Governments During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 54(2), pages 257-282.
    10. Xue-Jing Liu & Gustavo S. Mesch, 2020. "The Adoption of Preventive Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic in China and Israel," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-18, September.
    11. Michael P. Vale, 2022. "Contextualizing Poverty along with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) 3, 6 and 9 as non-income indicators in Ocampo, Camarines Sur Philippines: Evidences from CBMS 2019," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(8), pages 249-259, August.
    12. Étienne Dagorn & Martina Dattilo & Matthieu Pourieux, 2022. "Preferences matter! Political Responses to the COVID-19 and Population’s Preferences," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes & University of Caen) 2022-01, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes, University of Caen and CNRS.
    13. James, Myfanwy & Kasereka, Joseph Grace & Kasiwa, Benjamin & Kavunga-Membo, Hugo & Kambale, Kasonia & Grais, Rebecca & Muyembe-Tamfum, Jean-Jacques & Bausch, Daniel G. & Watson-Jones, Deborah & Lees, , 2023. "Protection, health seeking, or a laissez-passer: Participants’ decision-making in an EVD vaccine trial in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    14. repec:zbw:bofitp:2020_014 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Michael S Deiner & Lee Worden & Alex Rittel & Sarah F Ackley & Fengchen Liu & Laura Blum & James C Scott & Thomas M Lietman & Travis C Porco, 2017. "Short-term leprosy forecasting from an expert opinion survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, August.
    16. Bartolini, Stefano & Sarracino, Francesco & Slater, Giulia, 2020. "Do epidemics impose a trade-off between freedom and health? Evidence from Europe during Covid-19," MPRA Paper 105035, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Rehse, Dominik & Tremöhlen, Felix, 2020. "Fostering participation in digital public health interventions: The case of digital contact tracing," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-076, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    18. Edson Mazive & Gerson Baza & Gimelgo Xirinda & Ivan Manhique & Jorge Mouco & Silvestre Matola, 2021. "The role of trust and of poverty in compliance with social distancing measures in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-103, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Bargain, Olivier & Aminjonov, Ulugbek, 2020. "Trust and compliance to public health policies in times of COVID-19," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    20. Li Sun & Tao Liu & Weiquan Wang, 2023. "Working from Home in Urban China during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Assemblages of Work-Family Interference," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(1), pages 157-175, February.
    21. Anna Brosius & Michael Hameleers & Toni G. L. A. Meer, 2022. "Can we trust measures of trust? a comparison of results from open and closed questions," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 2907-2924, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:23:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s10308-025-00719-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.