Abstract
This paper analyzes the role of individual and system-level factors and the interaction between both these levels in shaping citizens’ trust in the moral integrity of institutions, and their confidence in the capabilities of institutions. We conceptualize the standard questionnaire item of ‘institutional trust’ as an additive composite of both trust and of confidence. Starting from the culturalist framework, we argue that social trust is sometimes transferred to institutions, but this transfer is condition on the institutions’ trustworthiness. This explanation is supplemented with performance-based approaches to confidence in institutions, because the impact of institutional performance differs for citizens and might be conditional on their preferences and vulnerability to institutional failure. Because institutions are in charge of different tasks, the criteria for evaluating them can be expected to differ.
Our analysis confirms the hypothesis that social trust is transferred only to trustworthy institutions, which explains why a relationship between social and institutional trust is found only in some countries. While different criteria are of varying relevance for different institutions, there is no clear distinction between political and non-political institutions. The impact of an institution’s performance on institutional confidence is usually not conditional on citizens’ characteristics.
Zusammenfassung
Dieser Beitrag analysiert die Rolle von Faktoren für das Niveau an Vertrauen, welches Bürger den Institutionen ihres Landes entgegenbringen, auf der Ebene des Individuums und der Gesellschaft, insbesondere die Interaktion zwischen beiden Ebenen. Die Standardfrage nach Vertrauen in bestimmte Institutionen wird dabei als ein additives Kompositum aus Vertrauen in die Moral der Institution und Vertrauen in die Fähigkeiten der Institution konzeptualisiert.
Soziales Vertrauen, so wird argumentiert, schlägt nur dann in politisches Vertrauen um, wenn die Institution auch objektiv vertrauenswürdig ist. Diese Erklärung wird ergänzt durch Indikatoren der Leistungsfähigkeit der Institutionen. Da Institutionen für unterschiedliche Aufgaben zuständig sind, sollte sich auch die Relevanz der einzelnen Leistungsindikatoren je nach Institution unterscheiden. Zudem kann argumentiert werden, dass, da für Individuen je nach persönlicher Lage bestimmte Leistung von Institutionen unterschiedlich relevant sind, etwa die Arbeitslosenquote für Arbeitslose, bestimmte Leistungsindikatoren für bestimmte Individuen wichtiger sind.
Die Analyse bestätigt die Hypothese, dass soziales Vertrauen nur dann auf Institutionen übertragen wird, wenn diese auch vertrauenswürdig sind. Dieser Mechanismus erklärt, warum sich eine Korrelation zwischen sozialem und politischem Vertrauen nur in manchen Ländern findet. Zwar bestimmt sich das Institutionen entgegengebrachte Vertrauen in deren Leistungsfähigkeit nach verschiedenen Kriterien, eine klare Unterscheidung zwischen politischen und unpolitischen Institutionen findet sich jedoch nicht. Der Effekt der Leistungsfähigkeit von Institutionen auf das Vertrauen in ihre Leistungsfähigkeit ist dabei nicht von persönlichen Eigenschaften beeinflusst.
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The author wishes to thank Sonja Zmerli for conversations and the data on the incumbency variable.
Appendix
Appendix
Countries included in the analysis:
Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Slovenia.
Descriptives of the dependent variables
Variable | Obs. | Mean | Std.Dev. | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trust in Parliament | 24779 | 5.12 | 2.35 | 0 | 10 |
Trust in Politicians | 24893 | 4.14 | 2.23 | 0 | 10 |
Trust in the Police | 24931 | 6.32 | 2.35 | 0 | 10 |
Trust in the Legal System | 24837 | 5.66 | 2.50 | 0 | 10 |
The wording of the questions was: How much you personally trust each of the institutions
… [country]’s parliament?
… the legal system?
… the police?
… politicians?
The answers range from “No trust at all” (0) to “Complete trust” (10).
Descriptives of the independent variables
Variable | Mean | Std. Dev. | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Macro Level Features | ||||
CPI | 7.49 | 1.80 | 4.1 | 10.0 |
GDP | 22.04 | 6.35 | 8.5 | 42.8 |
GINI | 30.48 | 4.42 | 24.7 | 39.2 |
Unemployment | 6.47 | 3.62 | 1.8 | 18.2 |
Inflation | 6.30 | 8.03 | 1.5 | 28.0 |
Individual Level Features | ||||
Cabinet Stability | 32.40 | 11.82 | 13.8 | 52.5 |
SocialTrust | 5.26 | 2.39 | 0.0 | 10.0 |
Satisfaction | 0.06 | 0.86 | -2.4 | 2.5 |
InternalEfficacy | 3.00 | 1.10 | 1.0 | 5.0 |
ExternalEfficacy | 2.49 | 1.03 | 1.0 | 5.0 |
Incumbency | 0.32 | 0.47 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
ImpactIncumbency | 0.16 | 0.36 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
TVPolitical | 2.12 | 1.24 | 0.0 | 7.0 |
NewspaperPolitical | 1.25 | 0.89 | 0.0 | 7.0 |
TVNonPolitical | 2.11 | 1.66 | 0.0 | 7.0 |
NewspaperNonPolitical | 0.67 | 0.86 | 0.0 | 7.0 |
PartyClose | 0.40 | 0.49 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
ValueEquality | 3.73 | 1.07 | 1.0 | 5.0 |
AfraidDark | 1.95 | 0.77 | 1.0 | 4.0 |
Minority | 0.06 | 0.24 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
Female | 0.49 | 0.50 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
Age | 45.71 | 17.21 | 13.0 | 109.0 |
Education | 12.48 | 3.73 | 0.0 | 40.0 |
Unemployed | 0.03 | 0.18 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
Cross Level Interaction Variables | ||||
ImpactUnemployment | 1.01 | 3.01 | 0.0 | 18.2 |
ImpactGINI | 114.43 | 38.41 | 24.7 | 196.0 |
CondTrust | 40.83 | 22.91 | 0.0 | 100.0 |
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Kotzian, P. Conditional trust: The role of individual and system-level features for trust and confidence in institutions. Z Vgl Polit Wiss 5, 25–49 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12286-011-0094-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12286-011-0094-1