V. Valgarðsson, Will Jennings, Gerry Stoker, Lawrence McKay, Daniel Devine, Nick Clarke
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
We explore the characteristics of politicians that make them trusted by citizens, fielding conjoint survey experiments in seven democracies. Studies regularly indicate that competence and integrity are key attributes in the perceived trustworthiness of politicians, but we show that displaying authenticity is also important. Authenticity is about being true to oneself, and in the political context this requires politicians to appear unlike typical politicians and more like ordinary people. We find that some attributes associated with authenticity are as important as competence and integrity, and they appear to be especially important to citizens with lower levels of generalized political trust. These findings suggest that considerations of politicians being ‘in touch with ordinary people’ can matter just as much as more traditional judgements of their honesty and ability to produce outcomes. This has implications for our understanding of political leadership as well as for trust-building strategies.
期刊介绍:
Political Studies is a leading international journal committed to the very highest standards of peer review that publishes academically rigorous and original work in all fields of politics and international relations. The editors encourage a pluralistic approach to political science and debate across the discipline. Political Studies aims to develop the most promising new work available and to facilitate professional communication in political science.