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Cited by 328Public Policy and Administration ResearchPublic Administration in Developing NationsSocial Capital and Networks

Outcomes, process, and trust of civil servants

Van Ryzin, G. G.·2011·Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory
DOI 10.1093/jopart/muq092
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Abstract

The contemporary performance movement has tended to assume that a key to restoring public trust in civil servants lies in a focus on outcomes or results. But there is growing evidence from various fields that trust in people and institutions of authority often depends more on process (such as fairness and equity) than on outcomes. This finding that process matters in the formation of trust judgments appears across a wide range of settings (police, courts, work places), yet it has not been adequately recognized in the public administration literature and rhetoric on government performance—especially in an era of outcomes-based, results-driven government. Using data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), the World Bank Governance Indicators, and the UN Human Development Index, this article empirically examines the relative influence of process versus outcomes on the perceived trustworthiness of civil servants. Individual-level structural equation models are tested for the United States as well as all 33 countries in the ISSP. Country-level path models are tested using both World Bank/UN indicators and aggregated ISSP survey data. Results show that process has a consistently large effect on trust of civil servants, in some models several times larger than the effect of outcomes on trust. Although it has methodological limitations, this study should at least encourage more theoretical and empirical attention to government process, and not just outcomes, as a factor in explaining citizens' trust of civil servants.

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  • Perceptions of procedural justice are important to trust judgments in policing, courts, and public administration.

    “Indeed, the importance of perceptions of procedural justice to the formation of trust judgments has been well demonstrated in the context of policing and the courts (e.g.Tyler, 2006Tyler, , 2013)), as well as for trust of public administrators more generally (Van Ryzin, 2011).”

    From Latent transparency and trust in government: Unexpected findings from two survey experiments (2020) · cites this paper as Van Ryzin, 2011

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Authors
Van Ryzin, G. G.
Venue
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2011-02-17
Volume
21
Issue
4
Pages
745-760
ISSN
  • 1053-1858 (ISSN-L)
  • 1477-9803
DOI
10.1093/jopart/muq092
OpenAlex
W2144971385
Cited by
328
References
24
Citations by year
2026: 31 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 9
FWCI
32.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Public Administration › Public Policy and Administration Research
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Public Administration in Developing Nations
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Capital and Networks
Keywords
public trust in government, public sector employees, trustworthiness, process versus outcome, equity and fairness, government performance, results-based management, perceived fairness, cross-national comparison, United States

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