Abstract
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The aim of this study is to determine factors of citizens trust in local government. The theoretical part reveals the phenomenon of trust as an object of many scientific disciplines - psychology, sociology, economics, etc. Each of the listed disciplines interprets trust differently, based on a unique structure and analysis. It is generalized that trust is determining as a feature of social relationships where members of society trust each other, and the higher level of trust tend to cooperate. Whereas WBG report “Building Trust in Government through Citizen Engagement” defined trust in governance as a necessary precondition for representative democracy. Moreover, The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities 2019 point out that local and regional democracy is a central pillar of European democracy” and stressed the role of citizens’ trust in strengthening the representative democracy. In the relationship between citizens and government the scientific literature suggests term of political trust. It explains expectations which citizens experienced in relationship with governing institutions. Changing nature of relationship between government and society force governing institutions to find new ways of decision making and implementation and to pursuit citizens trust in their efficiency, transparency etc.
Political trust could be analyzed at three levels: micro, mezo and macro. The same factors could be recognized at each level, but their significance may vary. Micro-political trust is also called individual political trust, where trust is directed at individual political or administrational leaders. It involves a person-centered approach where citizens become confident or distrustful of government because of a particular leader. It is also an individual trait where trust is based on a personal perception of the activities of each institution, where citizens expect public institutions to meet the needs of society; when citizens value the government and its institutions, policy-making, individual political leaders - their activities, keeping promises, honesty. At the mezo level, public policy-making and implementation can depend on citizens' trust when municipal authorities operating in specific public services, such as health, education etc. Macro-political trust means when citizens trust or distrust a government in general because they are satisfied or dissatisfied with its work. Citizens also value a common political system, different institutions. The macro level includes the highest, general level of trust in public authorities, which may even be limited by some structural reforms or various systemic changes. According to scientific review there are defined two levels of variables affecting citizens trust in local government – external and internal. External factors such as economic situation, performance of governing bodies, social capital, inter-institutional trust in political and administrative system, ethical behavior and competence of civil servants and politicians, reputation, and communication style, political or administrative management events, transparency, media etc. were defined. Internal such as – gender; age; education level; socio-economic status; political engagement and activity in local events and elections etc. Those factors became a basis for elaboration of questionnaire for empirical research. Two sets of independent variables – mentioned external and internal factors together with demographic factors were used to determine variations of the dependent variable - trust in local governments. Siauliai district municipality was chosen as a case for survey. Siauliai district municipality was chosen as a case for survey (N=207). Survey helps to identify the prevailing factors of political trust in the case of small municipality.
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