Browsing by Author "Eek, Daniel"

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    Exploring a Causal Relationship between Vertical and Horizontal Trust
    (2005) Eek, Daniel; Rothstein, Bo; QoG Institute
    Three experiments investigating how a possible causal relationship works between vertical trust (i.e., trust in authorities) and horizontal trust (i.e., trust in others) are reported. In Experiment 1, 40 undergraduate students read and responded to several scenarios describing fictitious events in a foreign society. Based on their effects on trust, the scenarios were hypothesized to be grouped into the following four categories; positive effects on vertical trust, negative effects on vertical trust, positive effects on horizontal trust, and negative effects on horizontal trust. In different participant groups, subsequent to each scenario, participants’ levels of vertical or horizontal trust were assessed. As hypothesized, different scenarios had reliable effects on the two forms of trust. In Experiment 2, 64 undergraduates read the most effective scenarios from Experiment 1 and responded to how participants’ levels of vertical and horizontal trust were affected by the scenarios. Results supported the hypothesized causal relationship from vertical to horizontal trust when trust levels were decreased, but not when trust levels were increased. Results of Experiment 3, where another 48 undergraduates participated, verified that the strength of the causal effect of vertical trust on horizontal trust depends on whether trust is increased or decreased. In conclusion, the results from the three experiments indicate that increased vertical trust has positive effects on horizontal trust, decreased vertical trust has smaller negative effects on horizontal trust, and horizontal trust has no effects on vertical trust.
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    Political Corruption and Social Trust: An Experimental Approach
    (2005) Eek, Daniel; Rothstein, Bo; QoG Institute
    Few experimental studies have investigated important factors for people’s perceptions of the trustworthiness of others. Building on theories that point at the importance of trustworthy government institutions, an experiment was conducted to examine factors of importance for people’s propensity to relate trust in authorities to trust in others. A group of 64 undergraduate students responded to a number of scenarios in which they observed another person’s efforts to try to receive immediate assistance from an authority. Descriptions of the other person’s encounter with the authority varied within groups in terms of whether or not a bribe was used in order to receive immediate assistance, whether the other person or the authority was the initiator, and outcome in terms of whether immediate assistance was approved or declined. Type of authority was a between-groups factor. Subsequent to each scenario, participants’ levels of various aspects of vertical and horizontal trust were measured. As hypothesized, the results showed strong effects of bribe, initiator, and outcome on all dependent measures. Bribe, initiator, and approved assistance decreased both vertical and horizontal trust. The results give support for the idea that trust in an authority influences the perceptions of the trustworthiness of others in general.
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    Political Corruption and Social Trust: An Experimental Approach
    (2006) Rothstein, Bo; Eek, Daniel; QoG Institute
    The main question addressed in this paper is how the great variation in the level of social trust between different countries can be explained? Most empirical research on this question has been based on survey data which has limits when it comes to capturing the causal mechanisms. Building on theories that point at the importance of trustworthy governmental institutions for creating social trust, two parallel experiments were conducted in two countries were the levels of corruption and social trust are very different. One group of 64 Swedish and one group of 82 Romanian undergraduate students responded to a number of scenarios in which another person’s efforts to try to receive immediate assistance from an authority were described. These encounters varied within groups in terms of (1) whether or not a bribe was used in order to receive immediate assistance, (2) whether the other person or the official took the initiative to request/offer immediate assistance in exchange for the bribe, and (3) outcome in terms of whether immediate assistance was approved or declined as a result of the offer or demand for a bribe. Type of authority (police vs. doctor) was a between-groups factor. Subsequent to each scenario, participants’ levels of various aspects of vertical and horizontal trust were measured. As hypothesized, the Romanian sample had reliably lower initial levels of horizontal trust than the Swedish sample. For both samples, however, the results showed the expected effects of bribe, initiator, and outcome on all dependent trust measures. The main results showed that bribe, initiator, and approved assistance decreased both vertical and horizontal trust. As such, the results supported the idea that trust in authorities influences the perceptions of the trustworthiness of others in general. Even though some of the effects were stronger for one sample than for the other, the influence of vertical trust on social trust was true for both the high- and the low-trusting sample.