The Impact of Citizen Satisfaction with Government Performance on Public Trust in the Government: Empirical Evidence from Urban Yemen

Abstract

Until now, there have been no empirical studies published investing the link between citizens’ satisfaction with government performance and its impact on public trust towards the government. Here, we explore the case of the Yemeni government. Public trust in government is considered very low among Arabic countries. Public trust in government in Yemen was found to be much lower than expected. Furthermore, the variables of citizen satisfaction with the quality of public services, the transparency of government and government performance in fighting corruption were found to be positively associated with public trust in the transitional Yemeni government at both the city and central levels. This study also found that some demographic features in Yemeni citizens such as males with low and middle school education showed a higher possibility of trust in city government. These findings suggest that maintaining political trust will be a challenge for the transitional Yemeni government especially because Yemen is now experiencing civil war.