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Institutional Trust (institutional + trust)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	57%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	42%

Selected Abstracts

Institutional Trust and Subjective Well-Being across the EU

KYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 1 2006
John Hudson
SUMMARY This paper analyzes the impact of institutions upon happiness through their intermediary impact upon individual trust. The empirical work is based on Eurobarometer data covering the 15 countries of the EU prior to its expansion in 2004. With respect to trust, we present evidence that, although it is endogenous with respect to the performance of the institution, changes in the individual's personal circumstances can also have an impact, indicating that trust is not simply learned at an early age. Hence unemployed people tend to have lower levels of trust not only in the main economic institutions , government and the Central Bank , but in other state institutions too such as the police and the law. Trust also differs in a systematic manner with respect to education and household income, increases (decreases) in either increase (decrease) trust in most institutions. If we assume that more educated people make better judgments, this suggests that on average people tend to have too little trust in institutions. However, it is also possible that both of these variables impact on the interaction between institutions such as the police and other government agencies and the citizen, with prosperous, well educated people being at an advantage and possibly able to command more respect. Age too impacts on institutional trust. For the UN, the unions, big business, voluntary organizations and the EU, trust first declines and then increases with the estimated turning points ranging between 44 and 56 years. For most other organizations trust significantly increases with age. Turning to subjective well-being, we find the standard set of socio-economic variables to be significant. But the focus here is on the impact of institutional trust. We find that trust (mistrust) in the European Central Bank, the EU, national government, the law and the UN all impact positively (negatively) on well-being. Hence overall our results support the conclusion that happiness does not solely lie within the realm of the individual, but that institutional performance also has a direct impact upon subjective well-being. [source]

Exploring the Sources of Institutional Trust in China: Culture, Mobilization, or Performance?

ASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 3 2010
Qing Yang
While democratic countries have been concerned about a "trust crisis" since the 1960s, China surprisingly displays a very high level of public trust in institutions. Why do people trust institutions and to what extent does institutional trust in China differ from that in democracies? Using the 2004 China Values and Ethics Survey, this article explores three different dimensions of institutional trust in China: trust in administrative institutions, trust in legal institutions, and trust in societal institutions. The analysis shows that institutional trust is more than a product of traditional values in China. Rather, it is more of an individual rational choice based heavily on the evaluations of the institutional performance, and it is also a result of government-controlled politicization. Trust in administrative institutions, in particular, mainly comes from satisfactory institutional performance. Institutional trust has a great impact on the development of democracy and legal participation in China. [source]

Factors explaining male/female differences in attitudes and purchase intention toward genetically engineered salmon,,

JOURNAL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, Issue 2 2008
Wei Qin
Frequently observed male/female differences in attitudes toward genetically engineered (GE) foods have not received adequate explanations. We examined (a) the ability of two hypotheses (safety concern and institutional trust) to explain male/female attitudes toward GE salmon and (b) the effect of attitudes on male/female differences in purchase intent. A survey (n,=,501) was administered in two branches of a regional supermarket chain. After reading an information booklet, men and women's scores on a knowledge quiz did not differ but women had significantly more negative attitudes toward GE salmon than men. Attitudinal male/female differences were attributed to women's lower trust in government agencies and scientific organizations, and higher level of perceived health risks compared to men , supporting both hypotheses. But the essential basis of these attitudinal male/female differences appeared to be women's greater concern about the ethics/morality of this application. Attitude differences were the major contributor to male/female differences in purchase intention. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Institutional Trust and Subjective Well-Being across the EU

Civic Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Alternative Paths to the Development of Political Knowledge and Democratic Values

POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2005
Steven E. Finkel
Despite the proliferation of civic education programs in the emerging democracies of Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe, there have been few recent evaluations of the effectiveness of civics instruction in achieving changes in democratic orientations among student populations. We present findings from a study conducted in 1998 that examined the impact of democratic civic education among South African high school students. Using a battery of items to gauge democratic orientations, including measures of political knowledge, civic duty, tolerance, institutional trust, civic skills, and approval of legal forms of political participation, we find that civic education had the largest effects on political knowledge, with the magnitude of the effect being approximately twice as large as the recent Niemi and Junn (1998) finding for the United States. Exposure to civic education per se had weaker effects on democratic values and skills; for these orientations, what matters are specific factors related to the quality of instruction and the use of active pedagogical methods employed by civics instructors. Further, we find that civic education changed the structure of students' orientations: a "democratic values" dimension coalesces more strongly, and in greater distinction, from a "political competence" dimension among students exposed to civic education than among those with no such training. We discuss the implications of the findings for our theoretical understanding of the role of civic education in fostering democratic attitudes, norms, and values, as well as the practical implications of the results for the implementation and funding of civic education programs in developing democracies in the future. [source]