Dimensions of Trust: A Review of Trust in Government

DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/00195561221136256
Published date01 March 2023
Date01 March 2023
Subject MatterArticles
Article
Dimensions of Trust:
A Review of Trust in
Government
Tahmina Ferdous Tanny1
Abstract
This article explains different dimensions of trust relevant to trust in government
and, therefore, suggests a brief model for practical application. The study pur-
sues content analysis method for theoretical treatment of knowledge produced
from studying secondary sources of literature. Imitating the context, the concept
of trust is clarified first, and then dimensions of trust are arranged under two
broad heads: institutional trust and social trust. And then follow the analyses and
the subdivisions thoroughly. A compendious model is suggested with possible
solutions for public trust in government. Explanations claim that aggregation of
institutional trust, that is, political, administrative and social trust, might build an
array of trustworthy governance, though adequate pertinent literature are not
easily available. This paper recommends that trust in government model may be
tested for further empirical study.
Keywords
Trust, dimensions of trust, political trust, trust in public administration
Introduction
Trust in government is an integral element of governance because in a democratic
state, citizens scrutinise government policies on a regular basis and assess perfor-
mance of governmental actions. Trust becomes a necessity in times when the gov-
ernment has undertaken reforms in state aairs that require masses’ compliance to
make it successful. The importance of trust as a governance mechanism foments if
the corruption cases of politicians or bribery and mismanagement incidents of
public sector organisations are exposed to the public. Nevertheless, people become
sceptical about the government apparatus and pose distrust to such authorities. The
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
69(1) 22–36, 2023
© 2022 IIPA
Reprints and permissions:
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DOI:10.1177/00195561221136256
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1 Department of Public Administration, Jagannath University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Corresponding author:
Tahmina Ferdous Tanny, Department of Public Administration, Jagannath University, 9, 10
Chittaranjan Avenue, Dhaka 1100, Bangladesh.
E-mails: tahmina@pad.jnu.ac.bd; tahminatanny@gmail.com

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