Research On Key Factors Affecting The Trust In Local Government

Trust in government is the public attitudes toward government as well as evaluation togovernment, organization and staff. It is an important part in the trust system, and aninevitable element to promote social progress and economic development, meanwhile anecessary basis to get a legal status. However, as a significant part in this field, it is necessaryto do further research on the issue of trust in local government, in order to know the currentsituation and its decline in our country. Through theoretical and empirical research, keyfactors influencing local government trust and their relationship emerge. The influence ofvarious factors and different individual features of trust in government is also discussed in thethesis. Finally, methods and paths to improve trust in local government are explored on thebasis of above conclusions.The hot issue about trust in government has long been a concern in the academiccommunity. Research on the factors influencing trust in government also originated in westerncountries. As a result of little literature about factors influencing trust in local government andfew statistic investigations, scholars in China have to study from theory and analysis offactors influencing trust in central government. By adopting literature analysis, andmathematical statistics analysis, this thesis does intensive research on crucial influencingfactors to trust in district government of X city and expounds the trust in government andrelevant theories. Furthermore, it mainly analyzes different research made by domestic andoverseas scholars on this theme. By reference to different trust in government models at homeand abroad and the current situation of ours, the relational model of this research can beestablished and nine research hypothesis are put forward at the same time. Taking the trust indistrict government of X city as a case study, I distributed400questionnaires to the residentsliving in five communities. By using analysis software SPSS18.0, different analytical methodsand data collected from questionnaire survey, I have gained some understanding of trustevaluation of local government given by residents in X city, influence of key factors relatingto trust in government and individual differences in trust in government in populationstatistics variables. Through correlation analysis and regression analysis, it comes to theconclusion that the following factors have an obvious positive effect on trust in government,for instance, public service, products satisfaction, public efficiency in administrativeprocesses, process neutrality, ability, willingness, morality and quality of staff, institutionaltrust, interpersonal trust and political consciousness of the public. It further proved that thosevariables are the key factors to influence district government of X city. Through analysis of variance, I found that, among the individual statistical variables, gender, political status,education background, occupational structure and income can have a significant impact ontrust in government. Besides these five variables, there is no obvious difference on the aspectsof age and marital status for trust in government influences. All the analysis proves that nineresearch hypotheses are tenable and I have drawn the conclusion that the level of trust in localgovernment has affected by a variety of critical factors.Based on the above research results, this thesis provides the following five suggestions interms of how to win more public trust and support: provide public service withpublic-oriented, standardize government administrative procedures, establish precise systems,develop a harmonious environment with high-credibility, cultivate and strengthen publicawareness of politics. I hope suggestions mentioned in this thesis can bring a relativelysignificant reference meaning and value to trust in district government of X city on the aspectsof its self improvement, public support and sound development between them.