Social capital, community trust, and E-government services

Abstract

This paper analyses data from two large-scale community surveys to explore the relationship between community trust relations, as an expression of social capital, and perceptions of the quality of locally available government services. The analysis leads to a model of trust propagation within communities. The factors which connect different forms of trust suggest information and communication technologies for the public sector have an important role to play in mediating trust relations in the community. We indicate some implications for designers, managers and developers of these technologies. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.