The Impact of Trust in Public Institutions on Compliance With Epidemiological Measures to Slow Down the Spread of COVID-19

Abstract

This paper investigates the causal relationship between the trust in institutions and compliance with measures introduced to slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in Slovakia. We also analyse the impact of socio-economic characteristics on compliance with introduced measures. We use the data from a survey carried out by the Slovak Academy of Sciences on the representative sample of 1000 respondents. To derive the causal effect, we use a probit regression model. We find that trust in institutions helps to increase compliance with social distancing. We find that some socio-economic characteristics such as employment status, age or whether individuals feel to be in danger of COVID-19 have a positive and statistically significant effect on compliance with measures employed to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

"Trust in Public Institutions and Compliance With Measures Against Covid-19 Pandemic. Case Study on Metropolitan Area of Cluj, Romania"

“…In addition, we measured recalled behaviors that might be affected by limitation of memory and social desirability. However, the research results are in accordance with the findings of other researches conducted in Slovakia (Caplanova, Sivak and Szakadatova, 2020), in a group of 58 countries (Pak, McBryde and Adegboye, 2021), and Italy and France (Lalot et al, 2020).…”