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This study looked at the relationship between good governance and trust in government. We used data on government trust across a sample of 29 European countries over the period 2004–2015, as well as six different aspects of governance as captured by the Worldwide Governance Indicators. We also consider GDP growth and income inequality and their correlation with trust in government. The results showed that voice and accountability, which captures freedom of expression and citizen involvement in the democratic process, was significantly related to government trust, across all specifications of our regression models. None of the other indicators yields significant results, although the coefficient for control of corruption is significant in some specifications. We also found that real GDP growth rates have a significant relationship with trust in government. A comparison of the standardised regression coefficients indicated that voice and accountability is a stronger correlate of trust in government than GDP growth. Therefore, our results suggested that good governance was a key determinant of trust in government, over and above economic considerations. We discussed the implications of these findings in light of declining levels of public trust in government around the world.

The decline of trust in government has been a critical issue in many parts of the world. Various surveys have indicated that the public cast suspicious eyes on their government and become less trustful of performance of their public sector. The OECD labels trust in government as a fundamental element of the democratic “contract,” while its decline may have significant impacts on government activities. Likewise, the UN also refers to trust as the foundation for good governance; therefore, improving trust would help strengthen sound governance in any polity. As these examples demonstrate, trust in government has increasingly become a central concern for government reformers.

In Japan, for a long time, bureaucrats have been perceived to be trustful social agents and they have enjoyed more confidence than those of party members. However, a series of scandals involving high-ranking bureaucrats, in addition to several policy failures and severe financial difficulties, have deteriorated the trustful image of Japanese public officials. Confronted with the problem, both central and local governments in Japan have attempted to improve their public perceptions and tried to rebuild trust in government by resorting to various types of administrative reform. However, the identification of reasons for the decline of public trust in government appear an awesome task and hard to come. While some of the reforms have helped contributed rebuilding trust, others have further eroded the level of government confidence.

Against these backgrounds, the chapter aims to show the current level of trust in government, specifically in Japan. It tries to assess government efforts of rebuilding trust by discussing different government reforms at both the central and the local levels.

Electronic government (e-government) has been suggested as an important tool to improve public services and enhance citizens’ trust in government. Several studies have examined the relationship between e-government service quality, satisfaction and trust in government with conflicting results. This conflict reveals the need for additional examination of the process relating e-government service quality to trust in government. This study aims to introduce a theoretical approach that considers a crucial factor, which is perceived government effort. The model proposes that perceived e-government service quality first leads to satisfaction, which in turn increases perceived effort that finally translates into trust in government.

This study proposes and tests a conceptual model that examines the relationship between e-government service quality, satisfaction, perceived effort and trust in government. The model is tested using mediated regression analyses and Hayes’s PROCESS macro. Data were collected from an online survey of 723 individuals who interacted with e-government services in Kuwait.

The results supported the proposed theoretical model and particularly confirmed the mediating role of perceived effort in the link between e-government service quality and trust in government.

The findings improve the understanding of the behavioral process linking satisfaction with citizen’s trust in the government.

The model introduces a crucial yet previously overlooked factor to the trust-building effect of e-government, which is perceived effort. This factor is particularly important in electronic services that inherently lack face-to-face interaction between citizens and government representatives.

Since 9/11, 2001, protection from terrorism has become a poignant issue in the political spectrum, and some have argued that fears of terrorism have been manipulated for political purposes. Contributing to a growing body of research, this study sought to test whether terrorism fears, and/or the impact of terror alerts, predicted overall trust in government in a sample of university undergraduates who completed the Perceptions of Terrorism Questionnaire Short‐Form (PTQ‐SF). Two psychological theories offer plausible explanations for this relationship: attachment theory and evolutionary psychology theory. Results indicate that both general terrorism fears and the impact of terror alerts specifically, are statistically significant predictors of trust in government, using separate hierarchical regression models after controlling for other factors. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed, as are directions for further research.

The study aims to establish that religiosity has a positive link with government trust, making the secularization trend all the more likely to further erode this already fragile resource.

Through the use of data from the World Values Survey and European Social Survey the link between religiosity and trust in government is examined.

Religiosity and trust in government are positively linked in aggregate data.

The analysis is based on aggregated data, not individual countries, and religiosity is a complex concept to measure.

Secularization will have a long-term negative effect on government trust. Low levels of trust in government in the West are likely here to stay, or even worsen, as populations continue to secularize.

With less trust in government, it will be more difficult to govern effectively.

The author has not yet seen a full test on how secularization will impact trust in government. In fact, this study makes clear that the trend goes a long way explaining why trust in government has been falling in the developed world for decades.

Citizen trust in police is important in terms of citizen consent to government policies and of police achieving their organizational goals. In the previous study, improvements in police policy, organizational operation and policing activities were developed to clarify which factors influence trust in police and how trust can be improved. This research raises the question, would changes in trust in police have an impact on trust in government? In this paper, this research question is discussed theoretically and the causal relationship analyzed empirically by applying OLS, ordered logistic, 2SLS and logistic regressions.

The basic analysis methods are to apply the OLS and the ordered logistic regression. OLS regression analysis is an analytical method that minimizes an error range of a regression line. The assumptions for OLS are: linearity, independence, equilibrium, extrapolation and multicollinearity issues. These problems were statistically verified and analyzed, in order to confirm the robustness of the analysis results by comparing the results of the ordered logistic regression because of the sequence characteristic of the dependent variable. The data to be used in this study is the Asia Barometer Survey in 2013.

Trust in police and citizen perception of safety are analyzed as important factors to increase trust in the government. The effects of trust in police are more significant than the effects of control variables, and the direction and strength of the results are stable. The effect of trust in police on trust in government is strengthened by the perception of safety (IV). In addition, OLS, ordered logistic regression analysis, which analyzed trust in central government and local government, and logistic regression analysis categorized by trust and distrust show the stability.

This paper has implications in terms of theoretical and empirical analysis of the relationship between trust in police and trust in government. In addition, the impact of perception of safety on trust in police can be provided to police officers, policymakers and governors who are seeking to increase trust in government. This paper is also meaningful in that it is the microscopic research based on the citizens' survey. One of the limitations of macroscopic research is that it does not consider the individual perceptions of citizens.

The results of this paper can confirm the relationship of the virtuous cycle, which is perception of safety – trust in police – trust in government. The police will need to provide security services to improve citizens' perception of safety and make great efforts to create safer communities and society. Trust in police formed through this process can be an important component of trust in government. By making citizens feel safer and achieving trust in police, ultimately, trust in government will be improved.

The police perform one of the essential roles of government and are one of the major components of trust in government, but the police sector has been neglected compared to the roles of the economic and political sectors. These influences of macro factors are too abstract to allow specific policy directions to be suggested. If we consider trust in police, and factors that can improve trust in government, we can suggest practical policy alternatives.

This study examined the association between media consumers' attitudes toward COVID-19-related content on mainstream, on-demand and social media and trust in the government's ability to handle the pandemic crisis.

The study is based on an online survey of a representative sample of 1,005 Israelis aged 18 and over and focused on consumers' perceptions of media contents as a source of information, social solidarity, criticism and anxiety.

Findings indicate that mainstream media were the primary source of pandemic information. A positive association was found between perceptions of mainstream media as a source of criticism and trust in government's actions. This association was negative regarding social and on-demand media. The more mainstream media contents were perceived as anxiety evoking, the lower participants' trust in government's actions. A positive association was found between perceptions that social media encouraged social solidarity and trust in governmental action.

Policymakers should take into consideration that various media operate synergistically to continually construct reality.

This study focuses on consumers' perceptions of COVID-related media contents, which are especially important in the current era of media outlet proliferation, distribution and impact on the government. The unique contribution is in the integrated application of media malaise theory, virtuous circle theory and echo chamber theory to explain the correlation between media consumption and public trust during a global crisis in the era of diverse media outlets.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-06-2021-0299.

This study examines the effect of multidimensional constructs on citizen loyalty to e-government services. More specifically, it examines the effects of service quality, trust and satisfaction on loyalty to these services.

The data were collected via a questionnaire that was completed by 780 foundation-year students in government universities in Saudi Arabia. The students who participated in the study had used a unified system provided by the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia for university admission. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling.

The key findings revealed that the factors service quality, trust in government, trust in e-government services and citizen satisfaction play a significant role in developing citizen loyalty to e-government services. Trust in government has the strongest direct effect on citizen loyalty to e-government services, and service quality has the strongest total effect on citizen loyalty. In contrast, citizen satisfaction has the least significant influence on citizen loyalty to e-government services.

This study proposes a new model for citizen loyalty to e-government services that combines the service quality model and trust theory. In addition, this study is among the first to categorise trust into three factors – trust in government, trust in e-government and disposition to trust – and integrate them into a model. Furthermore, the study reveals the roles of satisfaction and service quality in developing citizen loyalty. The findings of this study fill a gap in knowledge on citizen trust in, satisfaction with and loyalty to e-government services.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of polarisation on trust in government.

The authors use the ordered probit technique to model trust as a function of polarisation and various control variables. The authors apply the instrumental variables approach to address potential endogeneity in polarisation, using ethnic diversity as an instrument.

The results reveal that an increase in polarisation reduces trust in central government. However, trust in local government is non-responsive to this polarisation. The estimations controlled for government performance, and the authors found a positive association between government performance and trust in government, which, however, does not alter the relationship between polarisation and trust in government.

In ethnically polarised nations, policymakers should consider decentralisation measures. This can help sustain trust and development support, particularly in regions where citizens prioritise ethnicity over nationality.

The social implications of this research underscore the importance of promoting trust in government to foster social cohesion and stability, particularly in ethnically diverse societies.

The authors find that increased ethnic polarisation reduces trust in the central government, particularly among those prioritising their ethnicity over nationality. This adds a non-performance dimension to government trust literature, suggesting that policies focusing solely on performance may yield limited results. The research extends beyond central government trust to include local governments. Unlike central government, local government trust remains tied to performance attributes unaffected by polarisation. Hence, investing resources through local governments is a viable strategy for enhancing citizen support while mitigating polarisation’s adverse effects.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between trust in government, value added tax (VAT) compliance costs and VAT compliance in the Jordanian retail industry context.

The study makes use of an online questionnaire survey to collect the required data, and the research model is eventually validated based on 189 responses gathered from the retail industry in Jordan. The obtained data was analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling to examine the effects of trust in government and costs of VAT compliance on VAT compliance.

The results showed that VAT compliance costs have no significant influence on VAT compliance; while trust in government was found statistically positive significant with VAT compliance.

This study’s results are expected to have implications for VAT authorities and policymakers in Arab countries, like Jordan in their policies formulation to enhance VAT compliance in retail industry. The study’s findings are alerting the policymakers for the positive noneconomic consequences of VAT compliance. It provides evidence that trust in government can increase VAT compliance.

The results of the research have a plentiful of social implications. Higher VAT compliance will enable higher levels of government spending on a many of social targets such as health, education, welfare programs and infrastructure.

While the study builds on recent research examining how to incentivize VAT compliance, it simultaneously seeks to make three contributions. First, the study design aims to apply recent advances in behavioral sciences (impact of trust in government and VAT compliance costs) in a policy area that has not seen much use of such interventions in the Jordanian context (i.e. VAT compliance). Second, the study is government procedures pertinent in the sense that it aims to increase the effectiveness of existing government policies by complementing them with behavioral primes. Third, there is nearly no literature found applying this topic in a developing country such as Jordan. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that examines the trust in government and VAT compliance costs on VAT compliance among Jordanian retail industry. Thus, this paper contributes to mitigating the literature gap by providing empirical evidence concerning the influence of trust in government and VAT compliance costs on the retail industry VAT compliance in the Jordanian context.