Citizens’ reasons for trust in and distrust of governmental crisis communication in six European countries and the US

Public trust is simultaneously a necessary prerequisite for effective governmental crisis management and communication, and affected by governmental behaviour in crises. However, little research has investigated citizens’ subjective reasons for trusting and distrusting governmental crisis communication, how widely these reasons are held at the population level, and how strongly they predict active trust or distrust. Using the example of the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted semi-structured interviews (Study 1, N = 84) and subsequent quota-based surveys (Study 2; N = 7,212) across seven countries: Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, and the US. Study 1 identified seven reasons for trust (and distrust): providing accurate (inaccurate) information, caring (not caring) about citizens, following (not following) experts, effective (ineffective) crisis management, openness (lacking openness) regarding failures, and members of the government following (breaking) rules, and avoiding (acting in) self-interest. Study 2 revealed that officials’ individual misconduct and lacking openness were the most agreed-with reasons for distrust. Regarding their association with overall trust, six of the seven reasons significantly differentiated active trustors from those with a neutral stance. On the other hand, while the individual conduct of governmental officials was highly salient to citizens, only perceptions of the government as uncaring and incapable (in managing the crisis and providing accurate information) significantly predicted active distrust. Future research on trust in crisis communication could build on the identified reasons, while governments attempting to engage distrusting population segments need to grapple with generalised negative perceptions that go beyond missteps of individual political actors.