Ethos Perspectives

Public Governance and Public Trust

“In public administration it is often assumed that managers who seek to serve the public interest also develop the skills to ensure trust. But … ensuring public trust is not a simple task. A broad range of strategies are needed.” - E. M. Berman (1997)

Singapore has consistently been ranked high internationally on governance. As Public Service officers, we can take pride for our part in contributing towards good governance. Nevertheless, we need to press on in building new capacities for good governance, in the face of challenges such as globalisation, hypercompetition, a changing geo-political environment, an evolving demography due to immigration and an ageing population, and an increasingly demanding and vocal citizenry. To navigate these challenges and new divides, the government needs to be better at rallying the people’s support for tough but necessary policies, instead of merely prescribing what needs to be done. How can we build up this new dimension of governance capability to engender stronger public trust in the government, and win the hearts and minds of Singaporeans?

Public trust has been the subject of several studies, the most definitive of which is Nye et al, ¹ which tracked citizens’ trust in the United States government since the 1960s. Similar studies have been done elsewhere, on countries in Europe as well as Australia and China. The general consensus of these studies has been: trust in government has declined over the different periods studied and government performance has waned, suggesting that citizens’ trust correlates directly with government performance.

However, newer studies have emerged that question the data consistency of the earlier studies and assert that citizens’ trust in government naturally fluctuates. A study of New Zealand ² found that though government performance had improved (based on proxy indicators such as economic growth, quality of life, level of security, etc.), citizens’ trust in the government declined. If government performance did improve, why did increasing numbers of people lose confidence in the government?

This issue of Ethos Perspectives will survey several studies to examine common factors that impact citizens’ trust in government as food for thought.

Service Delivery
Among the most commonly acknowledged factors affecting citizens’ trust in government is its ability to deliver public service effectively and efficiently. ³ This was especially so in the face of rising public expectations in the US and also throughout the world, even as the problems faced by government became increasingly complex. Widespread privatisation drives in the 1980s and 1990s also implied a declining ability or willingness on the part of the government to supply essential public services, and undermined public trust whenever non-public sector providers failed to deliver and meet citizens’ expectations. ⁴

The government also needs to be mindful to align delivery of services with the promises it has made. Non-delivery of election promises, statements, targets and plans reduce or destroy citizens’ trust in government. ⁵ In short, perceived declining competence on the part of the government, coupled with rising public expectations of government, has been a common factor for increasing distrust.

Beyond service delivery, what else affects the citizenry’s level of trust in their governments? The New Zealand study ² speculated that regional competition and globalisation, rising expectations of government, the lack of social cohesion, and perceptions of government dishonesty could have led to the surprising, inverse relationship between government performance and public trust. In addition, the media’s propensity to sensationalise news, focusing on negative episodes and scandals, increasingly eroded the public perception of government. What are some ways to restore public trust in the government?

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