From Perceived Reform Delivery to Vietnamese Citizens' Political Culture: Mixed‐Methods Evidence on Policy Feedback

ABSTRACT This article examines how Vietnamese citizens' perceived reform delivery is associated with political trust and modes of citizen engagement. Using a convergent mixed‐methods design, it combines a 2024–2025 cross‐sectional survey of 1594 respondents with qualitative analysis of policy documents, implementation materials, and governance assessments. The findings show a strong association between perceived reform delivery and political trust, but trust translates more clearly into low‐cost voice than into repeated participation or monitoring. Higher‐cost engagement depends more on usable information, actionable channels, and visible feedback loops. Qualitative evidence indicates that reforms generate durable policy feedback only when official commitments become verifiable everyday experiences, including predictable procedures, usable digital services, integrity enforcement, intelligible information, and responses to citizen input. The article contributes by distinguishing policy commitments, implementation signals, and perceived delivery in the study of political culture and policy feedback. Related Articles Thayer, C. A. 2010. “Political Legitimacy in Vietnam: Challenge and Response.” Politics & Policy 38, no. 3: 423–444. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2010.00242.x . Duong, T. L. and Muhammad, N. S. 2026. “Illusions of Control: Authoritarian Learning and the Geopolitics of Technocratic Tyranny.” Politics & Policy 54, no. 1: e70099. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.70099 . Béland, D., Gregory, P. M., Anahely, M., and Philip, R. 2024. “Policy Feedback, Varieties of Federalism, and the Politics of Health‐care Funding in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.” Politics & Policy 52, no. 1: 41–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12575 .