Managerial Quality, Administrative Performance and Trust in Governance: Can We Point to Causality?

Abstract

The relationship between managerial quality, administrative performance and citizens' trust in government and in public administration systems is a field of study that so far has not received adequate scholarly attention. This article explores some interrelationships between these variables and empirically tests between causality, if it exists, between performance and trust. Applying a technique of structural equation modelling (SEM) with LISREL 8.3 the study examined a sample of 345 Israeli citizens and compared three alternative models. The second model that showed a quality performance trust relationship fitted the data best. However, the third model also had some advantages worthy of elaboration. Thus, we concluded that administrative performance may be treated as a precondition to trust in governance rather than trust serving as the precondition to performance. The article ends with further discussion of the findings and their meaning in light of the democratic, bureaucratic and new public management theory.

The roles of transparency and trust in the relationship between corruption and citizen satisfaction

“…Though not stated in these terms, such models appear to imply that satisfaction will precede trust, but that once trust is engendered it will have a positive impact on satisfaction. For example, although Vigoda and Yuval (2003) report a linear relationship (quality ! performance !…”

Social Capital and Fire Service Performance: Evidence from the U.S. States

“…That is, social trust increases in those areas where fire departments have successfully reduced the rate of fire deaths. For example, Vigoda and Yuval's (2003) survey of 345 Israeli citizens suggests that administrative performance is a precondition for trust in government. Although our research design reduces the prospect of temporal causality running from fire deaths to social trust, the extent to which better fire performance contributes to stronger social capital is nonetheless worthy of attention in future studies.…”

Changing Dimensions of Trust in Government: An Exploration in Environmental Policy in Hong Kong

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