Interpersonal and political trust: modeling levels of citizens' trust
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to examine whether generally trusting people are any more likely to be the same people who are also more politically trusting. In particular, the research focuses on the relationship between interpersonal trust and three political trust‐related constructs: trust of government form, political cynicism, and incumbent trust.
Design/methodology/approach
The intention was to model the impact of general or interpersonal trust – i.e. Rotter's Interpersonal Trust scale, on three specific dimensions of political trust – i.e. “trust in government form”, “political cynicism”, and “incumbent trust”. This was achieved through a questionnaire, which was mailed to a random sample of 4,000 American households.
Findings
The structural aspects of the model reveal a significantly strong path between Rotter's broad‐based interpersonal trust scale and the more specific incumbent trust measure. The model also indicates a modestly strong relationship between interpersonal trust and trust in form of government, and a weak relationship between interpersonal trust and political cynicism.
Originality/value
This research should prove useful to academic research, campaign managers, and political strategists in terms of reinforcing the importance of different aspects or components of trust, as well as their interrelationship, and how they might impact political strategy and campaign development.
Keywords
Citation
Schiffman, L., Thelen, S.T. and Sherman, E. (2010), "Interpersonal and political trust: modeling levels of citizens' trust", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 44 No. 3/4, pp. 369-381. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090561011020471
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited