Revisiting the Dynamics of Social Capital, Government Performance, and Trust in Government: Evidence from South Korea

Abstract

It is generally accepted that social capital can moderate the relationship between government performance and citizens' trust in their government. However, this idea has yet to be empirically examined in Asian contexts. This paper makes two major contributions to existing research. First, it uses survey data from 2011 to examine whether existing theories about social capital hold true in Korean contexts. Second, it tests whether other contextual factors have more explanatory power than social capital regarding peoples' trust in government in Korean contexts. It employs two additional contextual factors - political ideology and media influence - to its analysis, and demonstrates that these factors have more significant roles than social capital in moderating peoples' trust in government.