This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Around the world, many people report distrusting their government. In some places, such as Latin America, North America and Africa, trust in government has declined in recent decades.
How can governments rebuild this trust? New research from the MIT Governance Lab and the behavioral science research organization Busara examines how government partnerships with trusted private organizations can shape public trust in government. In Kenya, county governments have worked with a telecommunications company to develop an online public service portal.
A survey of people in and around the capital city of Nairobi found that highlighting the role of the company increased people's willingness to use the portal, but hurt their trust in government. The results of this work, published in the September issue of the journal Government Information Quarterly, can help researchers understand how government digitization projects and relationships with technology companies affect public trust. Studies have suggested that without public trust in government, people are less likely to follow rules and laws, and governments have a harder time solving problems that require public cooperation.
Research has linked low levels of trust to people not paying taxes, lower voter turnout, lower COVID-19 vaccination rates and higher COVID-19 infection rates. In Kenya, a 2023 survey found that only 43% of people trusted the government. Corruption, poor service delivery and flawed elections have likely hurt public trust.
The Kenyan government is also a pioneer in digital technology for governance. Mobile money is widely used, and a centralized service delivery platform called eCitizen has made thousands of digitized services available to citizens. Such digital services can allow governments to serve people more efficiently and, if executed well, can build trust in government competency.
Recently, Kenya's 47 county governments partnered with Safaricom, a highly trusted telecommunications company, to create an online portal called My County Hub. The portal aims to allow people to request government emergency services, pay for business permits and parking, receive information from the government and more. In the new study, researchers told the more than 11,000 online survey participants how they could access My County Hub and some of the services it would offer.
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