Description:
This study focuses on government activity and social trust, and analyzes the effects of government effectiveness as well as the subjective recognition on the responsiveness, commitment, integrity, and democracy of government. It uses the data of 49,807 respondents from 34 countries (38 regions) in the 2014 Citizenship II survey of International Social Survey Programme, and the Worldwide Governance Indicators by the World Bank. Using hierarchical linear modeling, it shows the positive effects of government effectiveness, democracy, and GDP per capita at the national level on the respondents’ social trust. At the individual level, the corruption and democracy of government are significantly associated with social trust. Among the control variables, participation in a group (sports, leisure or cultural), a voluntary association or an interest group (trade union, business, or professional), and degree are positively related to social trust, but sex, age, and participation in political party, or religious organization are not significant. This result means that both the contextual factor on government activity at the national level and the subjective recognition at the individual level are related to social trust, and shows the possibility that the government may contribute to enhance the level of social trust when it conducts properly its own roles. Finally, it discusses the limitations of this study as well as its academic and practical implications.