The Role of Bureaucratic Procedures and ‘Caring Professionals’ in Fostering User Trust: Evidence from Serbia and the Czech Republic

The literature on user trust in social welfare systems appropriately highlights the quality of relationships with frontline workers and the perception of their skills and human qualities, which develop and evolve over time. However, it tends to place less emphasis on users’ perceptions of and experiences with the formal procedures within which these relational processes unfold. With this paper, we aim to contribute to knowledge on user (dis)trust-building by focusing on the microdynamics of its development, which equally considers citizens’ interactions with frontline workers and institutional procedures at various organisational levels. Drawing on empirical research conducted among disadvantaged families seeking support from social services and assistance institutions in the Czech Republic and Serbia, we analyse the narrated experiences and perception-based mechanisms that shape users’ (dis)trust within the dual context of institutional procedures governing access to services, and the relationship with frontline workers.