The causes of perceived government trustworthiness

Abstract

This paper examines the qualities of governments that influence their perceived trustworthiness, presenting the first experimental study of the distinct roles of ‘competence’, ‘benevolence’ and ‘integrity’ (CBI) in shaping trust in government. We empirically test the effects of these three dimensions of trustworthiness through conjoint experiments conducted in five countries: Britain, Croatia, Spain, Argentina and France. The results indicate that benevolence – government acting in citizens' interests – is the most significant determinant of trust judgements across individuals and nations. Competence and integrity have a secondary, approximately equal effect. Building on recent advances in analyses of conjoint experiments, we explore how these attributes are conditional on each other, and how respondent characteristics moderate those effects. The findings reveal that the effects of attributes are generally consistent, although respondent left-right ideology moderates the impact of government competence.