<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Because of its capacity to facilitate consensus, trust in government is vital to the functioning of democracies. And yet those interested in the concept continue to struggle with the sheer number and ambiguity of available definitions. This paper confronts theoretical notions of trust with available empirical evidence, and ultimately defines “trust in government” as the willingness to bear the immediate or expected material and ideological costs that arise from compliance with government action. This definition is useful because it keeps up with recent empirical findings, involves a particular channel of effect, and distinguishes trust in government from the positive perceptions and attitudes which are commonly confused with trust.</p></abstract>

Because of its capacity to facilitate consensus, trust in government is vital to the functioning of democracies. And yet those interested in the concept continue to struggle with the sheer number and ambiguity of available definitions. This paper confronts theoretical notions of trust with available empirical evidence, and ultimately defines “trust in government” as the willingness to bear the immediate or expected material and ideological costs that arise from compliance with government action. This definition is useful because it keeps up with recent empirical findings, involves a particular channel of effect, and distinguishes trust in government from the positive perceptions and attitudes which are commonly confused with trust.

An Empirically-Aligned Concept of Trust in Government

NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"An Empirically-Aligned Concept of Trust in Government"}

Because of its capacity to facilitate consensus, trust in government is vital to the functioning of democracies. And yet those interested in the concept...

An Empirically-Aligned Concept of Trust in Government

Published Online: Jun 18, 2019

Page range: 161 - 174

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nispa-2019-0007

Keywords
Trust in government, political trust, consensus, compliance

© 2019 Ivana Tomankova, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

An Empirically-Aligned Concept of Trust in Government

Published Online: Jun 18, 2019

Page range: 161 - 174

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nispa-2019-0007

KeywordsTrust in government, political trust, consensus, compliance

© 2019 Ivana Tomankova, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Trust in government, political trust, consensus, compliance