Law-breaking, fairness, and generalized trust: The mediating role of trust in institutions

Institution-centered accounts of generalized trust rely on the idea that law-breaking and state's unfairness lower individuals' propensity to trust fellow citizens because of a weaker confidence in the state. Despite the theoretical relevance attributed to this mediation mechanism, no empi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2019-08, Vol.14 (8), p.e0220160-e0220160
Main Author: Lo Iacono, Sergio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Attitude
Automobile theft
Biology and Life Sciences
Confidence
Corruption
Crime
Empirical analysis
Fairness
Female
Homicide
Humans
Influence
Institutions
Jurisprudence
Male
Mediation
Medicine and Health Sciences
Middle Aged
Multiculturalism & pluralism
People and places
Political aspects
Political science
Regional analysis
Social aspects
Social capital
Social Justice
Social Sciences
Society
Studies
Trust
Trust (Psychology)
Violent crimes
Young Adult
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Summary:Institution-centered accounts of generalized trust rely on the idea that law-breaking and state's unfairness lower individuals' propensity to trust fellow citizens because of a weaker confidence in the state. Despite the theoretical relevance attributed to this mediation mechanism, no empirical analysis in the literature has focused on examining its correlational validity. Using data from the European Social Survey (2010), the Quality of Government EU Regional data, and EUROSTAT, this paper assesses the intervening role of institutional trust on the relationship between crime rates, state's fairness, and generalized trust. Results from a Multilevel SEM (MSEM) mediation analysis indicate that trust in institutions strongly mediates the relationship between violent crimes (i.e. homicide) and generalized trust but not the one between property crimes (i.e. vehicle thefts and robberies) and generalized trust. On the other hand, indicators of fairness (i.e. impartiality and corruption) are all mediated by institutional trust, though impartiality maintains a significant direct effect. Overall, findings support the institutional approach, confirming that the negative relationship between ineffective and unfair institutions and generalized trust passes mostly through people's lost faith in the state.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0220160