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Trust in government: A micro-macro approach

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  • Rima Wilkes

Abstract

To date, the political trust literature has been bifurcated along micro-macro lines. Some scholars have studied differences in political trust across individuals, while others have studied aggregate political trust levels over time. In this paper, I propose a micro-macro model that joins the two. I use the model and data from the 1958-2008 American National Election Studies to examine the effects of incumbent, economic and policy assessments on individual political trust and on political trust over time. The results show that although economic and policy assessments impact individual-level political trust, they do not explain the more general trend. Assessments of incumbents, however, explain both. I argue that studies of political trust need to pay greater attention to the distinction between effect, mean and compositional changes. Only those predictors that exhibit the latter two can usefully explain why political trust changes over time. The paper concludes with a discussion of the utility of the micro-macro approach for the study of political and other forms of trust.

Suggested Citation

  • Rima Wilkes, 2014. "Trust in government: A micro-macro approach," Journal of Trust Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 113-131, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jtrust:v:4:y:2014:i:2:p:113-131
    DOI: 10.1080/21515581.2014.889835
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    Cited by:

    1. Joseph A Hamm & Corwin Smidt & Roger C Mayer, 2019. "Understanding the psychological nature and mechanisms of political trust," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Claire Durand & Luis Patricio Peña Ibarra & Nadia Rezgui & David Wutchiett, 2022. "How to combine and analyze all the data from diverse sources: a multilevel analysis of institutional trust in the world," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1755-1797, June.
    3. Peter Ping Li, 2017. "The time for transition: Future trust research," Journal of Trust Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, January.

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