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Trust and responsive regulation: the creation and generalisation of social trust
The problem
• Governments focus more on performance, less
on ethics
• Trust is in decline - today we’re less connected,
and more self-interested
• Declining trust is a problem for: voluntary
compliance with government regulation;
effective government; in making democracy
work; economic prosperity
• Objective: to understand trust as an attitude
towards others and government organisations
Trust and responsive regulation: the creation and generalisation of social trust
Academic context: literature
• Trust not prominent in sociology
– focus has been on ‘hard’, structural explanations of human action
– now a shift to individuals and ‘soft’, cultural explanations of action
• Opposing views of trust – no common ground:
– relational trust – belief/faith in others, a value, orientation, enduring
– rational trust – calculative, strategic, evaluation of performance
• Focus on social capital:
– Coleman (rational choice) vs Putnam (cultural/socialisation experiences)
• Mechanisms for generalisation of trust?
– social learning; taking role of the other; action-orienting norms
Trust and responsive regulation: the creation and generalisation of social trust
Research questions
• Cultural/socialisation theory neglects to
examine whether social trust generalises to
government institutions
• Research Questions:
– What creates trust in strangers (social trust)?
– Does social trust generalise to government organisations? How?
– Does trust generalise from government organisations to the community?
• Overarching Hypothesis:
– Relationally-based trust is a stronger predictor of social and political trust
than rationally-based trust.
Trust and responsive regulation: the creation and generalisation of social trust
Research Design
Civic Engagement
- personal
volunteering
Personal Attitudes
democratic
& Experiences
age
media
- sex interest
- rural/urban
education
ethnicity/culture
marital status
occupation
political affiliation
values
Trust
- in family/personal
in community/absent others
in social roles/social groups
Collective Attitudes
& Experiences
- government spending
law & order
responsive reciprocity
powerlessness
corruption
Trust
- in institutions
- in organisations
- in systems
- in system qualities
Trust and responsive regulation: the creation and generalisation of social trust
Method
• mail survey in 2000
• random 1,999 NSW & Victoria
participants drawn from electoral roll
• 43% response rate (837 individuals)
• representative sample (ABS 2001 census)
• analysis – SPSS, AMOS
• correlations
• factor analysis
• regressions
• structural equation models
Trust and responsive regulation: the creation and generalisation of social trust
Testing Putnam’s Social Capital Thesis
Single item social
trust variable
Predictors
Multi item social
trust variable
Standardised Beta Coefficients
Civic Engagement
Regular engagement in personal activities
.162***
.112**
Regular engagement in voluntary work
.028 NS
.162***
Regular engagement in democratic participation
.075*
.028 NS
Regular engagement with the media
.033 NS
.058 NS
Adjusted R2
.040
.052
* p < 0.05 ** p < 0.01 *** p < 0.001.
Note: NS means not significant at the .05 level.
Trust and responsive regulation: the creation and generalisation of social trust
Comparing Putnam’s Thesis with a Basic Socialisation Model
Predictors
Trust
Interpersonal Trust
(trust in family, boss & co-workers)
Standardised
Beta
Coefficient
.481***
Civic Engagement
Regular engagement in personal activities
.062 NS
Regular engagement in voluntary work
.058 NS
Regular engagement in democratic participation
.040 NS
Regular engagement with the media
.049 NS
Adjusted R2
.265
* p < 0.05 ** p < 0.01 *** p < 0.001.
Note: NS means not significant at the .05 level.
Trust and responsive regulation: the creation and generalisation of social trust
Generalising trust from strangers to government institutions
Local Service
Institutions
Standardised Beta Coefficients
Predictors
Trust
Interpersonal Trust
Social Trust
Remote Political
Institutions
(trust in family, boss & co-workers)
(trust in strangers)
Political Trust (local service Institutions)
.133***
.024 NS
.446***
.232***
-
.330***
Civic Engagement
.011 NS
.077 NS
Regular engagement in voluntary work
-.001 NS
-.001 NS
Regular engagement in democratic participation
-.022
-.078 NS
Regular engagement in personal activities
NS
Regular engagement with the media
.068**
.032 NS
Adjusted R2
. 202
.248
* p < 0.05 ** p < 0.01 *** p < 0.001.
Note: NS means not significant at the .05 level.
Effect of performance on trust in government institutions
Local Service
Predictors
Remote Political
Standardised Beta Coefficients
Trust
Social Trust
Political Trust
.334***
-
.183***
.220***
Personal Attitude/Experience
Age
Sex
Ethnicity
Satisfaction with life
Security values
NS
.096*
-.155**
.147**
-
-.020*
NS
NS
NS
.098*
.137**
.090*
NS
.134*
NS
NS
.090*
NS
.188***
NS
-.103*
-.352***
.239
.493
Collective Attitude/Experience
Contingent consent (the social bargain)
Patriotic duty
Wise government spending
Support for stricter law and order
Feelings of powerlessness
Perceptions of corruption in politics
Adjusted R2
* p < 0.05 ** p < 0.01 *** p < 0.001.
Note: NS means not significant at the .05 level.
Trust and responsive regulation: the creation and generalisation of social trust
Summary
• Civic engagement does not create social trust
• Social trust is created in the family and personal circle
• Relational trust extends from trust in strangers to trust
in government organisations
• Despite poor performance (corruption) trust in
government organisations (relational trust) remains
strong
• Trust in political organisations combines both rational
and relational factors
• Analysis of the direction of trust continues in AMOS