Chinese Policy Responses to COVID ‐19, Trust in Government, and Cultural Worldviews

ABSTRACT Using Policy Feedback Theory and Grid Group Cultural Theory, we show how COVID‐19 policy stringency and individuals' cultural worldviews influence trust in different levels of Chinese government. Relying on the Oxford COVID‐19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) and independent surveys in 2020 and 2022, we find that, as expected, Chinese respondents trust the central government more than local governments in 2020, but that increasing stringency in containment and health policies negatively correlates with trust in government at all levels in 2022. However, increasing stringency in economic support policy is associated positively with trust in government at all levels in 2022. Furthermore, as expected, hierarchy positively correlates with trust in government, while individualism negatively correlates with it in both years. In addition, egalitarianism is positively associated with trust in government in 2022, while fatalism is negatively associated with it in 2020. Moreover, cultural worldviews moderate the relationship between policy stringency and trust in government. Our results suggest that top‐down measures in public health crises are more likely to be rejected by some subcultures and that cultural surprises associated with the pandemic may trigger public demands for policy change.