Values and Trust: Multilevel Analyses of the Relationship of Basic Values With General and Institutional Trust in Europe

Abstract

Existing research has not systematically examined how basic human values relate to different forms of trust, namely generalised interpersonal and institutional trust, at both the societal and individual levels. This study addresses the question: How do Openness to Change, Self-Transcendence, Conservation, and Self-Enhancement values relate to trust (generalised and institutional) at the macro and micro levels? Using data from Round 10 of the European Social Survey covering 22 European countries, we investigate these associations via a multilevel regression analysis. Our findings provide three key contributions. The first contribution of our research is that generalised and institutional trust are associated with distinct value preferences at the individual level. The second contribution is the opposing effect of conservation values on institutional trust across the societal and individual levels. Whereas the individual endorsement of conservation values is positively associated with institutional trust, in countries with a higher average endorsement of conservation values, institutional trust is lower. Third, at the country level, values have no impact on generalised or institutional trust, except for conservation values, which may hinder the growth of both types of trust. At the individual level, however, values play a crucial role for both types of trust, yet in different constellations.