Intergenerational spaces: citizens, political marketing and conceptualising trust in a transitional democracy

Abstract

As the third largest democracy in the world, Indonesia’s relatively peaceful transition from authoritarian rule to democracy deserves academic attention. This study explored the notion of trust and how it could influence electoral behaviour. An intergenerational perspective was used to compare the differences between parents who were familiar with the previous political system and their children who have only been exposed to a new democratic system. Through the extension of the Dermody and Hanmer-Lloyd model of electoral behaviour, this study identifies the antecedents of trust/distrust in a transitional democracy and shows how these are different when citizens’ consider the political system and the political candidate. The work can benefit policy makers and political candidates who can develop political marketing strategies to engage citizens in the electoral process.

Keywords:

• political marketing
• elections
• trust
• Indonesia
• grounded theory

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ihwan Susila

Dr Ihwan Susila obtained his PhD at Hull University Business School and is a lecturer at the Universitas Muhammediyah Surakarta. His research interests focus upon political marketing and electoral decision-making.

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Dianne Dean

Dr Dianne Dean is a senior lecturer in marketing at Hull University Business School. Her research focus has been on the consumption of politics: irrational motivation in politics, in particular exploring aspects such as fear, propaganda, political storytelling and risk. Her interest in affect components in decision-making and power have been applied to electoral decision-making. Previous publications have appeared in European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Political Marketing and Journal of Marketing Management.

David Harness

Dr David Harness is a senior lecturer in marketing at Hull University Business School. His research interests are in the areas of corporate social responsibility, services marketing and end stage product management. Previous publications have appeared in Journal of Business Ethics, The Service Industries Journal, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Journal of Financial Services Marketing, International Journal of Bank Marketing and The Journal of General Management.

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