IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ris/spppps/0149.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trust in government in times of economic crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Sobiech

    (Collegium Civitas)

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the existing studies concerning the phenomenon of public trust in government. Low trust in government has been frequently defined as a key problem influencing the policy process in many countries. The economic crises reinforced the importance of trust and triggered public debates on the necessary reforms of the public sector. The paper examines the key theories and research conducted by social scientists with a particular emphasis on the role of trust in risk societies. The review of the existing literature concentrates on the drivers of trust, showing the importance of two interlinked logics: the logic of consequences (the performance approach) and the logic of appropriateness (the process approach). The first one explains trust as a result of outputs and outcomes of government policies and services. The logic of appropriateness claims that trust is built on values and identity and depends on the adoption by governments the rules of integrity, openness, responsiveness and transparency. Trust in government is also deeply rooted in a broader system of rules, norms and values known as the trust culture. The last part of the paper is an attempt to trace an impact of an economic crisis on public trust. Studies of public opinion do not fully confirm the opinions on low trust and a decline in trust in government and trust in public administration in times of crisis. Some studies reveal considerable fluctuations of public trust in selected countries. In other countries, the public evaluation of government and public administration is high and there are only slight modifications in citizens' perception of the government.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Sobiech, 2016. "Trust in government in times of economic crisis," Studia z Polityki Publicznej / Public Policy Studies, Warsaw School of Economics, vol. 3(1), pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:spppps:0149
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econjournals.sgh.waw.pl/KSzPP/article/view/915
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: azybal@sgh.waw.pl
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Williamson, Oliver E, 1993. "Calculativeness, Trust, and Economic Organization," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 453-486, April.
    2. Stacey G. Ulbig, 2002. "Policies, Procedures, and People: Sources of Support for Government?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 83(3), pages 789-809, September.
    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. Anne Corcos & Yorgos Rizopoulos, 2011. "Is prosocial behavior egocentric? The “invisible hand” of emotions," Post-Print halshs-01968213, HAL.
    2. Shi, Wei & Tang, Yinuo, 2015. "Cultural similarity as in-group favoritism: The impact of religious and ethnic similarities on alliance formation and announcement returns," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 32-46.
    3. Hamilton-Hart, Natasha & Stringer, Christina, 2016. "Upgrading and exploitation in the fishing industry: Contributions of value chain analysis," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 166-171.
    4. Tony Simons, 2002. "Behavioral Integrity: The Perceived Alignment Between Managers' Words and Deeds as a Research Focus," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(1), pages 18-35, February.
    5. Hou, Wanrong & Levitas, Edward & Su, Taoyong & Wu, Sibin, 2025. "Milestone payments in alliances: The moderating effect of equity ownership and network centrality," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    6. Ajzenman, Nicolás & Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Guriev, Sergei, 2022. "Exposure to transit migration: Public attitudes and entrepreneurship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    7. Wang, Chun-Ju & Wu, Lei-Yu, 2012. "Team member commitments and start-up competitiveness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(5), pages 708-715.
    8. Xiao Li & Jeffrey Ng & Walid Saffar, 2021. "Financial Reporting and Trade Credit: Evidence from Mandatory IFRS Adoption," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 96-128, March.
    9. Paul L. Robertson, 2006. "Transaction Costs, Trust, and the Structuring of Markets," Discussion Papers Series 342, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    10. Krug, B. & Hendrischke, H., 2006. "Framing China: Transformation and Institutional Change," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2006-025-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    11. Klein Woolthuis, R. & Nooteboom, B., 2002. "Trust and Formal Control in interorganizational Relationships," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2002-13-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    12. Pevzner, Mikhail & Xie, Fei & Xin, Xiangang, 2015. "When firms talk, do investors listen? The role of trust in stock market reactions to corporate earnings announcements," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 190-223.
    13. Ranjay Gulati & Maxim Sytch, 2008. "Does familiarity breed trust? Revisiting the antecedents of trust," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2-3), pages 165-190.
    14. Rodríguez-López, Nuria & Diz-Comesaña, María Eva, 2016. "Efeito mediador do controle formal e informal na forma de governo," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 56(6), November.
    15. Wang, Yidi & Gu, Hongmei, 2024. "Impacts of trust on the cost of debt financing: The perspectives of in-group trust and out-group trust," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    16. André Torre, 2002. "Les AOC sont-elles des clubs ? Réflexions sur les conditions de l'action collective localisée, entre coopération et règles formelles," Revue d'Économie Industrielle, Programme National Persée, vol. 100(1), pages 39-62.
    17. He, Yuanqiong & Keung Lai, Kin & Sun, Hongyi & Chen, Yun, 2014. "The impact of supplier integration on customer integration and new product performance: The mediating role of manufacturing flexibility under trust theory," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PB), pages 260-270.
    18. Dak-Adzaklo, Cephas Simon Peter & Wong, Raymond M.K., 2024. "Corporate governance reforms, societal trust, and corporate financial policies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Alexander Gorobets & Bart Nooteboom, 2006. "Adaptive Build-up and Breakdown of Trust: An Agent Based Computational Approach," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 10(3), pages 277-306, September.
    20. Humaira Mumtaz & Iqbal Javed & Allah Bakhsh, 2019. "Impact of Psychological Consequences on Poverty: An Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Economic Impact, Science Impact Publishers, vol. 1(3), pages 70-79.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • Z18 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Public Policy

    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:ris:spppps:0149. 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: Marcin Ochalski (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sgwawpl.html .

    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.