How the coronavirus crisis affects citizen trust in government institutions and in unknown others – Evidence from “the Swedish Experiment”

Esaiasson, Peter; Sohlberg, Jacob; Ghersetti, Marina; Johansson, Bengt

doi:10.31235/osf.io/6yw9r

Cited by 39 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Evidence from panel data from the Netherlands also shows that the lockdown did not increase trust, but it was a rally effect caused by the rising numbers of those with the virus ( Schraff, 2020 ). A panel study from Sweden shows that the increased trust in government influenced interpersonal trust rather than the reverse ( Esaiasson et al, 2020 ), supporting previous panel studies on this question more generally (e.g. Sønderskov and Dinesen, 2016 ).…”

Section: Studies Of Trust and Coronavirus: A Reviewsupporting

confidence: 78%

Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic: What are the Consequences of and for Trust? An Early Review of the Literature

Devine

Gaskell

Jennings

et al. 2020

Political Studies Review

387

311

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Trust between governors and the governed is seen as essential to facilitating good governance. This claim has become a prominent contention during the coronavirus pandemic. The crisis also presents a unique test of key hypotheses in the trust literature. Moreover, understanding the dynamics of trust, how it facilitates and hinders policy responses, and also the likely effects of these responses on trust are going to be fundamental questions in policy and trust research in the future. In this article, we review the early literature on the coronavirus pandemic and political and social trust, summarise their findings and highlight key challenges for future research. We show how the studies shed light on trust’s association with implementation of government measures, public compliance with them, mortality rates and the effect of government action on levels of trust. We also urge caution given the varying ways of measuring trust and operationalising the impact of the pandemic, the existence of common issues with quantitative studies and the relatively limited geographical scope of studies to date. We argue that it is going to be important to have a holistic understanding of these dynamics, using mixed-methods research as well as the quantitative studies we review here.

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Section: Studies Of Trust and Coronavirus: A Reviewsupporting

confidence: 78%

Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic: What are the Consequences of and for Trust? An Early Review of the Literature

Devine

Gaskell

Jennings

et al. 2020

Political Studies Review

387

311

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, we have evidence pointing in the opposite direction from Sweden and Italy where social trust seems to have increased during the lockdown (Demos & PI 2020;Esaiasson et al 2020) relatively to the level it was some time before the pandemic broke out. In addition, a study that compares areas with high social capital with areas with low social capital in seven European countries, including Italy, finds that COVID-19 cases have been increasing faster in the areas with low social capital (Bartscher et al 2020).…”

Section: Testing For Inverse Causalitymentioning

confidence: 75%

L’enfer c’est les autres? The effects of COVID-19 virus on interpersonal trust

Gambetta¹,

Morisi²

2020

Preprint

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Does the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic affect interpersonal trust? While most evidence shows that natural threats reinforce trust and cooperation, the COVID-19 virus differs from other calamities since it spreads through contact with people, thus potentially increasing mistrust and suspicion towards human beings. We in-vestigate the link between exposure to COVID-19 and trust in strangers by conducting a survey experiment with a representative sample of adults in Italy, one the countries that has been worst affected by the outbreak of the virus. Contrary to intuitive expectations, we find that those who report COVID-19 symptoms and those who live in the municipalities that have been worst affected by the virus trust strangers substantially more than their rela-tive counterparts. In addition, our experimental findings reveal that the risk that the COVID-19 pandemic poses to our health in the future leads to a substantial increase in trust in strangers. The risk that the pandemic poses to our livelihood, in terms of job loss and economic recession, also leads to a smaller increase in trust in strangers, while solidarity appeals and knowledge of people with COVID-19 symptoms within a close circle of relatives, friends and colleagues have no effects on trust. These findings, we suggest, could be explained by adapting the “emancipation theory of trust” to the context of natural disasters, conjecturing that when caught in catastrophes people become more dependent on other people’s support.

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“…In two preliminary studies on individual perceptions and awareness during the early stage of Covid-19 in the US and Finland, the trust and confidence in political authorities’ actions to prevent the outbreak was quite low [ 1 , 25 ] while more recent studies showed that the implementation of restrictive measures increased trust in the government, especially for individuals who didn’t experience the disease, directly or indirectly [ 26 , 27 ]. An interesting study conducted in Serbia during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic assessed the influence of conspiracy beliefs and political trust on adherence to COVID-19 preventive behaviour [ 28 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, in addition to the direct effect of risk perception on intentions to limit one’s behavior [ 3 , 5 , 6 , 23 ], we expected a mediating role of the (interpersonal and institutional) trust variable on this relationship [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. Thus, we expected that an increase in risk perception would correspond to an increase in precautionary behavior intentions in the participants, at the same time as an increase in the trust component (interpersonal and institutional).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of Risk, Self-Efficacy and Social Trust during the Diffusion of Covid-19 in Italy

Diotaiuti

Valente

Mancone

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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The Coronavirus pandemic has affected the lives of people all over the world. The perception of risk and people’s consequent behaviour during a pandemic are very complex and are affected by multiple cultural and psychological factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the change in risk perception, perceived self-efficacy and the perceived trust in the behaviour of others, the decisions of health authorities and government provisions, as well as the variation of self-restraint behaviours during the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic in Italy. We used a convenience sample of 707 university students (Mage = 22.99; SD = 4.01) from a central area of Italy. Participants freely joined the research by answering an online questionnaire between February and March 2020. Three time intervals defined by the progressive containment measures implemented by the Italian Government were considered. Main outcome measures were the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, the Risk Perception Index, the Index of Self-restraint Behaviours, and Institutional and Interpersonal Trust Measures. Results confirmed that significant changes in the time progression have occurred in the perception of risk, in the perception of individual self-efficacy, in the value attributed to social responsibility, in interpersonal trust and in trust in health authorities. The study also identified the participants’ personality traits and locus of control as predictors (positive and negative) of perceived self-efficacy and tested a mediation model of trust on the effect of risk perception on self-restraint intentions.

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How the coronavirus crisis affects citizen trust in government institutions and in unknown others – Evidence from “the Swedish Experiment”

Cited by 39 publications

References 26 publications

Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic: What are the Consequences of and for Trust? An Early Review of the Literature

Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic: What are the Consequences of and for Trust? An Early Review of the Literature

L’enfer c’est les autres? The effects of COVID-19 virus on interpersonal trust

Perception of Risk, Self-Efficacy and Social Trust during the Diffusion of Covid-19 in Italy

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