Do transparent government agencies strengthen trust?
Do transparent government agencies strengthen trust?
复制标题
透明的政府机构能否增强信任？
DOI：
10.3233/ip-2009-0175
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发表时间：
2009
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
S. Grimmelikhuijsen
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
S. Grimmelikhuijsen
近年来，人们对政府的信任一直不稳定，互联网透明度被视为加强信任的一种解决方案。然而，批评人士认为，透明度只会导致信任度下降，而怀疑论者则表示，它根本没有效果。关于透明度的辩论缺乏经验信息，因此本文的核心是透明度在多大程度上影响信任。信任的三个维度分别是：政府机构的能力、仁慈和诚实。为了检验互联网透明度是否会影响这些维度，我们采用了一种实验设计，比较了三组志愿者的结果。这些小组事先获得的有关该政府机构的信息数量各不相同，从很多到没有。结果表明，互联网透明度与信任的这些维度之间的关系并不是明确的。对仁慈和诚实的看法受到透明度水平的影响，而对能力的看法保持稳定。因此，透明度对信任的影响是异质性的。这就要求在关于这种关系的辩论中有一个更精确的观点；这项研究为更详细地了解透明度对信任的各种影响提供了一个起点。
Trust in government has been shown to be volatile in recent years and Internet transparency is seen as a solution to strengthen trust. However, critics argue that transparency will only lead to less trust, and sceptics say that it has no effect at all. This debate on transparency is lacking empirical information, and therefore central to this article is to what extent transparency influences trust. Three dimensions of trust are distinguished: the competence, benevolence and honesty of the government agency in question. To examine whether Internet transparency affects these dimensions, an experimental design was used which compared results from three groups of volunteers. The groups were given varying amounts of prior information regarding the government agency, ranging from much to none. Results showed that the relationship between Internet transparency and these dimensions of trust is not unequivocal. Perceptions of benevolence and honesty are affected by the level of transparency, while perceptions of competence remain stable. Hence, a heterogeneous effect of transparency on trust is demonstrated. This calls for a more refined view in the debate on this relationship; this study offers a beginning point for more detailed insight in the various effects of transparency on trust.