SUPPORT FOR POLITICAL EXPERIMENTATION: A MEDIATION ANALYSIS BETWEEN EFFECTIVENESS OF GOVERNMENT AND TRUST IN GOVERNMENT

Abstract

Governments are always implementing new policies to keep up with the global economy, as well as to meet the needs of the individuals. However, as little research has been done about the factors that would affect one’s support for political experimentation, this paper proposes two factors: effectiveness of government and trust in government. An effective government would lead to a high level of trust in one’s government, and this is true when the individuals have a high level of identification with the country. This paper will explore the influence that the two factors have on one’s support for political experimentation, focusing on a mediation effect of trust in government on the relationship between the effectiveness of one’s government and support for political experimentation. Results have shown that there is a trend that a more effective government leads to a higher level of trust in the government and that a high level of trust in one’s government will lead to a high level of support for political experimentation. However, the overall mediation effect was not observed. Hence, possible explanations will be presented for the different results observed, as well as limitations and further implications for future studies.