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Public Trust in Government: an Examination of Citizen Trust

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Public Trust in Government: an Examination of Citizen Trust PUBLIC TRUST IN GOVERNMENT: AN EXAMINATION OF CITIZEN TRUST DIFFERENTIALS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATORS AND OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AT THE FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL LEVELS A Dissertation Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Eric J. Mundy May, 2007 PUBLIC TRUST IN GOVERNMENT: AN EXAMINATION OF CITIZEN TRUST DIFFERENTIALS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATORS AND OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AT THE FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL LEVELS Eric J. Mundy Dissertation Approved: Accepted: Advisor Department Chair Raymond W. Cox, III Sonia A. Alemagno Committee Member Dean of the College Ralph P. Hummel Robert F. Levant Committee Member Dean of the Graduate School Julia Beckett George R. Newkome Committee Member Date Jesse F. Marquette Committee Member Jennifer Alexander ii ABSTRACT This study assesses public trust in various government officials, including public administrators, elected executives, politically appointed agency officials, and legislatures, across the three levels of United States government. The study utilizes primary data from a random sample telephone survey conducted in 2004 of 1,078 adult residents of Stark County, Ohio. The study yielded evidence to support the assertion that the general public has a higher level of trust in federal and state public administrators compared to elected and politically appointed officials, but this was not the case for county government public administrators. Although public administrators tended to be trusted more than other government officials, they were trusted less than people in general. Likewise, most groups of government officials were trusted less than people in general. The study also yielded evidence to support the assertion that government officials are trusted more at the local level compared to similar officials at the state and federal level. For instance, county public administrators were trusted more than their state and federal counterparts, while state public administrators were trusted more than federal administrators. General support for government was found to be directly related to public trust in elected executives and their appointed agency executives, regardless of the level of iii government. When controlling for the effects of trust in other government officials, trust in public administrators had no significant relationship to government support, regardless of the level of government. Another finding of the study was that trust in public administrators was a function of respondent trust in people in general and support for the associated level of government, with societal trust being the dominant variable. This model held for all three levels of government with no other explanatory variables influencing trust in public administrators. Explanatory variables for public trust in other government were varied and dissimilar to the public administrator model with variables such as political ideology, political party affiliation and household financial status being more prominent. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................... 1 Lackluster Public Trust in Government ..................................................................... 2 Trust in Public Administration Understudied ............................................................ 4 Objectives of the Research ........................................................................................... 5 Importance of the Study ................................................................................................ 9 II. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY .......................................................................... 12 Early Discussions of Trust and Government ............................................................... 12 Classical Political Philosophers ................................................................................. 13 Early Modernists ...................................................................................................... 14 Founders and Framers .............................................................................................. 15 Tocqueville on Trust ................................................................................................ 16 Contemporary Discussions of Trust and Government ................................................. 17 Importance of Public Trust in Government .............................................................. 18 v Political Participation .............................................................................................. 18 Citizen Compliance ................................................................................................. 19 Provision of Resources ............................................................................................ 20 Public Service .......................................................................................................... 20 Progressive Policy .................................................................................................... 21 Economic Growth .................................................................................................... 21 A Notable Controversy ............................................................................................... 22 Public Administration Considerations ....................................................................... 23 Micro-Organizational Considerations .................................................................... 24 Macro-Institutional Considerations ........................................................................ 25 Organizational Reform Considerations .................................................................. 26 Conceptualizations of Trust ........................................................................................ 28 Conceptual Vagueness ............................................................................................. 28 Some Generalizations of Trust ................................................................................. 29 A Simple Trust Model ............................................................................................. 30 Conceptualizations of Public Trust in Government ..................................................... 31 Risk and Expectations (Barber’s Account of Trust) ................................................. 32 Trust in the Social Order ....................................................................................... 32 Technical Competence .......................................................................................... 33 Fiduciary Responsibility ....................................................................................... 34 Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Dimensions (Kim’s Account of Trust) ............ 35 Cognitive Dimensions ........................................................................................... 35 vi Affective Dimensions ............................................................................................ 36 Behavioral Dimensions ......................................................................................... 36 Rational Versus Normative Considerations (Ruscio’s Account of Trust) .................37 Trust as Rational Choice ....................................................................................... 37 Trust as a Normative Construct............................................................................. 39 Trust-Related Concepts ............................................................................................ 40 Previous Survey Research on Trust in Government .................................................... 42 National Election Studies ........................................................................................ 42 General Social Survey .............................................................................................. 46 CEG Trust Studies ................................................................................................... 48 Other Related Survey Research ................................................................................ 50 Explanations of Variations in Trust in Government ................................................... 55 Government Performance ........................................................................................ 55 National Mood ......................................................................................................... 56 Political Causes ........................................................................................................ 57 Scope of Government .............................................................................................. 58 Social/Cultural Considerations .................................................................................. 58 National Threats ...................................................................................................... 60 Other Considerations ..............................................................................................
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