Particularized Trust, Institutional Trust, and Generalized Trust: An Examination of Causal Pathways

Seung Hyun Kim, Sangmook Kim

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14 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study attempts to resolve two issues in social trust research: the negative or positive effect of particularized trust (PT) and the causality between institutional trust (IT) and generalized trust (GT). It analyzes two types of data from South Korea: pooled data of cross-sectional national probability surveys; and online experimental three-wave panel data. Analyses of cross-sectional data suggest new classifications of trust types, family trust (FT) qualitatively different from PT, and the covariates of GT. Panel data analyses bolster the findings from cross-sectional data analysis and confirm a causal antecedence and lagged effects of IT. These findings imply that keys to achieving a high trust society are overcoming intense FT, expanding the radius of PT, and enhancing IT.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)840-855
Number of pages16
JournalInternational Journal of Public Opinion Research
Volume33
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Keywords

  • causal model
  • generalized trust
  • institutional trust
  • particularized trust
  • South Korea

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