An Empirical Study on the Effect of Collaborative Governance and Anti-Corruption Awareness on Trust in Government

As the public’s interests in government policies increase, their trust and support play a crucial role in implementing the policies. Today, the public actively express their opinions on government policies, and the government is forced to respond to the public demands. However, as the issues of corruption in public service like as employment irregularities and bribery continue to occur, the public distrust in government remains unchanged. Therefore, it is time to make efforts to restore the trust in government. Based on various factors suggested in prior research, this study empirically analyzes the factors influencing on trust in government. The analysis revealed that as influential factors on trust in government, legal/institutional factor, governance factor, and anti-corruption factor were statistically significant, but behavioral factor was not. The influence on trust in government was found to follow the order of anti-corruption factor, governance factor, and legal/institutional factor. Additionally, it shows that governance factor and anti-corruption factor at the citizen level play a mediating role in the process through which legal/institutional factor and behavioral factor at the government level affect trust in government. Given these results, in order to enhance trust in government, it is essential for the government to provide the public with reliable and sufficient information and to implement policies fairly based on clear standards and open procedures. Moreover, collaboration with various stakeholders is important for solving the complex public problems, and communication with the public and the responsiveness by government are required. It is also vital to prevent corruption in the public sector and improve the level of integrity in government.