What matters to citizens in crisis recovery? Being listened to, action, and confidence in government

The policy decision-making process in the aftermath of a crisis is a dynamic and iterative process involving circumstances that are emotionally convoluted rather than stable and rationally predictable. This research addresses the following question: To what extent do citizens’ fears and their perceptions of governmental responsiveness affect citizens’ confidence in the government’s disaster management capacity? By building a structural equation model, we also analyze the dual mediating effects of collective action by citizens. We find that citizens’ collective action mediates the effects of both these factors—citizen fear levels and governmental responsiveness—on citizens’ confidence in the government’s disaster management capacity. We test our hypotheses, using the 2014 Sewol Ferry accident case in South Korea, a striking disaster caused by human error resulting in the loss of 304 lives. This analysis offers practical lessons for governments on how best to engage citizens’ voices in the policy-making process. When citizens feel listened to and empathized with by their government, they become more supportive of the government’s recovery efforts. Collective action by citizens plays a critical role in channeling citizens’ feelings and communicating their feelings and opinions to the government while decreasing their fear level, which, in turn, increases citizens’ confidence in the government’s disaster management capacity.