000			02007pab a2200181 454500
008			180718b2012 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aGrimmelikhuijsen, Stephan
245			_aLinking transparency knowledge and citizen trust in government: An experiment
260			_c2012
300			_ap.50-73.
362			_aMar
520			_aDeclining citizen trust in government is an important driver for NPM-style reforms. Increasing people's knowledge by providing factual knowledge about government performance outcomes is seen as an important way of increasing citizen trust in government. Does this promise hold or is knowledge about performance outcomes not that important? Two rivalling hypotheses are being investigated. One proposition postulates a link between knowledge and trust, whereas the alternative hypothesis borrows from social-psychological research arguing that subconscious and affective cues are more important. In order to investigate this question, this article presents the results of an experiment (N = 658) investigating the effect of performance outcome transparency on citizen trust in a specific government organization. Four groups visited different websites with varying degrees of transparency and performance outcome. The results demonstrate that the link between transparency and trust in a government organization is determined by a mix of knowledge and feelings. Further, the overall effect of transparency is limited. Pre-existing and fundamental ideas about what government does and whether it is benign or not are far more determining than a single experience with a government organization. This article concludes that knowledge about performance outcomes is only part of the link between transparency and trust, and that more realistic views about transparency's effects should be developed. - Reproduced.
650			_aAccountability
650			_aAdministrative reform
773			_aInternational Review of Administrative Sciences
908			_aN
909			_a95835
999			_c95835 _d95835