Trust in Government and COVID-19 Response Policy: A Comparative Approach

Abstract

As nations work to respond to COVID-19, trust in government is critical to achieving health outcomes. Studies argue that greater trust in government is associated with increased compliance with COVID-19 public health policies. This analysis investigated predictors of public trust during COVID-19 in 16 countries grouped in four regions. The data used (n = 47,000) are taken from the Worldwide COVID-19 Attitudes and Beliefs dataset. Five hypotheses test the effects of stringency, geographic location, age, gender, income, and education levels on public trust. Findings reveal that increased stringency measures and education levels are positively associated with trust.

Keywords:

• Public health
• trust in government
• comparative public policy
• global survey analysis
• COVID-19

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Compliance measures: general curfews, lockdowns, school closures, restrictions on national movements, required mask mandates.

2. Recommendations: avoiding close contact with others, avoiding crowds and/or poorly ventilated places, washing hands more often.

3. Results of the Brant test are available on request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cristina Stanica

Cristina Stanica is Assistant Teaching Professor of Public Policy and Administration at Northeastern University, Boston. She holds a PhD in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware. Her research interests include administrative and rules burdens in street-level bureaucracy, coproduction, and trust in government.

Andrew Crosby

Andrew Crosby is Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Master of Public Policy and Administration program at Northwestern University. He earned his PhD in Public Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests include public and nonprofit financial management, survey methodology, and intergovernmental relations.

Sarah Larson

Sarah Larson is an Assistant Professor of Public Budgeting and Finance in the School of Public Administration at the University of Central Florida. She earned her joint PhD in public policy from the Department of Political Science and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. Her research focuses on issues in taxation policy; specifically, she examines sales, use, and property taxation as well as methodological advancements in public administration and policy.