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good governance research articles

  • 17 Jan 2024
  • Research & Ideas

Are Companies Getting Away with 'Cheap Talk' on Climate Goals?

Many companies set emissions targets with great fanfare—and never meet them, says research by Shirley Lu and colleagues. But what if investors held businesses accountable for achieving their climate plans?

good governance research articles

  • 09 Jan 2024

Could Clean Hydrogen Become Affordable at Scale by 2030?

The cost to produce hydrogen could approach the $1-per-kilogram target set by US regulators by 2030, helping this cleaner energy source compete with fossil fuels, says research by Gunther Glenk and colleagues. But planned global investments in hydrogen production would need to come to fruition to reach full potential.

good governance research articles

  • 02 Jan 2024
  • What Do You Think?

Do Boomerang CEOs Get a Bad Rap?

Several companies have brought back formerly successful CEOs in hopes of breathing new life into their organizations—with mixed results. But are we even measuring the boomerang CEOs' performance properly? asks James Heskett. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

good governance research articles

  • 28 Nov 2023

Economic Growth Draws Companies to Asia. Can They Handle Its Authoritarian Regimes?

The efficiency of one-party governments might seem appealing, but leaders need a deep understanding of a country's power structure and "moral economy," says Meg Rithmire. Her book Precarious Ties: Business and the State in Authoritarian Asia explores the delicate relationship between capitalists and autocrats in the region.

good governance research articles

  • 07 Nov 2023
  • Cold Call Podcast

How Should Meta Be Governed for the Good of Society?

Julie Owono is executive director of Internet Sans Frontières and a member of the Oversight Board, an outside entity with the authority to make binding decisions on tricky moderation questions for Meta’s companies, including Facebook and Instagram. Harvard Business School visiting professor Jesse Shapiro and Owono break down how the Board governs Meta’s social and political power to ensure that it’s used responsibly, and discuss the Board’s impact, as an alternative to government regulation, in the case, “Independent Governance of Meta’s Social Spaces: The Oversight Board.”

good governance research articles

  • 06 Jun 2023

The Opioid Crisis, CEO Pay, and Shareholder Activism

In 2020, AmerisourceBergen Corporation, a Fortune 50 company in the drug distribution industry, agreed to settle thousands of lawsuits filed nationwide against the company for its opioid distribution practices, which critics alleged had contributed to the opioid crisis in the US. The $6.6 billion global settlement caused a net loss larger than the cumulative net income earned during the tenure of the company’s CEO, which began in 2011. In addition, AmerisourceBergen’s legal and financial troubles were accompanied by shareholder demands aimed at driving corporate governance changes in companies in the opioid supply chain. Determined to hold the company’s leadership accountable, the shareholders launched a campaign in early 2021 to reject the pay packages of executives. Should the board reduce the executives’ pay, as of means of improving accountability? Or does punishing the AmerisourceBergen executives for paying the settlement ignore the larger issue of a business’s responsibility to society? Harvard Business School professor Suraj Srinivasan discusses executive compensation and shareholder activism in the context of the US opioid crisis in his case, “The Opioid Settlement and Controversy Over CEO Pay at AmerisourceBergen.”

good governance research articles

  • 02 May 2023

How Should Artificial Intelligence Be Regulated—if at All?

Some AI pioneers say the technology could be a risk to humanity, and some governments have taken steps to rein it in. But who should set the rules and what details must they consider? asks James Heskett. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

good governance research articles

  • 24 Apr 2023

What Does It Take to Build as Much Buzz as Booze? Inside the Epic Challenge of Cannabis-Infused Drinks

The market for cannabis products has exploded as more states legalize marijuana. But the path to success is rife with complexity as a case study about the beverage company Cann by Ayelet Israeli illustrates.

good governance research articles

  • 21 Apr 2023

The $15 Billion Question: Have Loot Boxes Turned Video Gaming into Gambling?

Critics say loot boxes—major revenue streams for video game companies—entice young players to overspend. Can regulators protect consumers without dampening the thrill of the game? Research by Tomomichi Amano and colleague.

good governance research articles

  • 31 Mar 2023

Can a ‘Basic Bundle’ of Health Insurance Cure Coverage Gaps and Spur Innovation?

One in 10 people in America lack health insurance, resulting in $40 billion of care that goes unpaid each year. Amitabh Chandra and colleagues say ensuring basic coverage for all residents, as other wealthy nations do, could address the most acute needs and unlock efficiency.

good governance research articles

  • 28 Mar 2023

The FDA’s Speedy Drug Approvals Are Safe: A Win-Win for Patients and Pharma Innovation

Expediting so-called breakthrough therapies has saved millions of dollars in research time without compromising drug safety or efficacy, says research by Ariel Stern, Amitabh Chandra, and colleagues. Could policymakers harness the approach to bring life-saving treatments to the market faster?

good governance research articles

  • 23 Mar 2023

As Climate Fears Mount, More Investors Turn to 'ESG' Funds Despite Few Rules

Regulations and ratings remain murky, but that's not deterring climate-conscious investors from paying more for funds with an ESG label. Research by Mark Egan and Malcolm Baker sizes up the premium these funds command. Is it time for more standards in impact investing?

good governance research articles

  • 14 Mar 2023
  • In Practice

What Does the Failure of Silicon Valley Bank Say About the State of Finance?

Silicon Valley Bank wasn't ready for the Fed's interest rate hikes, but that's only part of the story. Victoria Ivashina and Erik Stafford probe the complex factors that led to the second-biggest bank failure ever.

good governance research articles

  • 14 Feb 2023

Does It Pay to Be a Whistleblower?

In 2013, soon after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had started a massive whistleblowing program with the potential for large monetary rewards, two employees of a US bank’s asset management business debated whether to blow the whistle on their employer after completing an internal review that revealed undisclosed conflicts of interest. The bank’s asset management business disproportionately invested clients’ money in its own mutual funds over funds managed by other banks, letting it collect additional fees—and the bank had not disclosed this conflict of interest to clients. Both employees agreed that failing to disclose the conflict was a problem, but beyond that, they saw the situation very differently. One employee, Neel, perceived the internal review as a good-faith effort by senior management to identify and address the problem. The other, Akash, thought that the entire business model was problematic, even with a disclosure, and believed that the bank may have even broken the law. Should they escalate the issue internally or report their findings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission? Harvard Business School associate professor Jonas Heese discusses the potential risks and rewards of whistleblowing in his case, “Conflicts of Interest at Uptown Bank.”

good governance research articles

Is Sweden Still 'Sweden'? A Liberal Utopia Grapples with an Identity Crisis

Changing political views and economic forces have threatened Sweden's image of liberal stability. Is it the end of the Scandinavian business-welfare model as we know it? In a case study, Debora Spar examines recent shifts in Sweden and what they mean for the country's future.

good governance research articles

  • 17 Jan 2023

Nestlé’s KitKat Diplomacy: Neutrality vs. Shared Value

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, and multinational companies began pulling out of Russia, in response. At Switzerland-based Nestlé, chief executive Mark Schneider had a difficult decision to make. Nestlé had a long tradition of neutrality that enabled it to operate in countries regardless of their political systems and human rights policies. But more recently the company had embraced Michael Porter’s “shared value” paradigm, which argues that companies have a responsibility to improve the business community and the health of their communities. What should Schneider do? Professor Geoffrey Jones discusses the viability of the shared value concept and the social responsibility of transnational corporations today in the case, “Nestlé, Shared Value and Kit Kat Diplomacy.”

good governance research articles

  • 04 Oct 2022

Cold Call: Corporate Governance and Growth Strategy at Capital SAFI

Jorge Quintanilla Nielsen started the independent asset management firm Capital SAFI in 2007. Now a leader in Bolivia’s closed-end funds industry with a total of $430 million in assets under management, Quintanilla planned to expand into other countries, like Peru and Colombia. He knew that governance would be one of the main aspects potential partners would evaluate. Capital SAFI’s board had evolved over time with the establishment of a governance committee, an assessment process for the board, professional development offerings for board members, tools to manage governance risk, and succession plans for board members and company executives. Would local and foreign investors be impressed by those measures or were additional improvements needed? Professor V. G. Narayanan discusses the importance of corporate governance in his case, “Building the Governance to Take Capital SAFI to the Next Level.”

good governance research articles

  • 20 Sep 2022

How Partisan Politics Play Out in American Boardrooms

The discord gripping the nation has reached the heights of corporate America, with costly consequences for companies and investors. Research by Elisabeth Kempf shows just how polarized the executive suite has become.

good governance research articles

  • 06 Sep 2022

Curbing an Unlikely Culprit of Rising Drug Prices: Pharmaceutical Donations

Policymakers of every leaning have vowed to rein in prescription drug costs, with little success. But research by Leemore Dafny shows how closing a loophole on drugmaker donations could eliminate one driver of rising expenses.

good governance research articles

  • 01 Sep 2022

Is It Time to Consider Lifting Tariffs on Chinese Imports?

Many of the tariffs levied by the Trump administration on Chinese goods remain in place. James Heskett weighs whether the US should prioritize renegotiating trade agreements with China, and what it would take to move on from the trade war. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

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  • Elsevier - PMC COVID-19 Collection

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Citizens' trust in government as a function of good governance and government agency's provision of quality information on social media during COVID-19

Evidence from literature reveals that good governance practices influence citizens' attitudes and behaviours towards the government. Therefore, grounded on the good governance theory, the current study aimed to empirically examine how good governance practices promote public trust with the underlying mechanism of perceived government response on COVID-19 (PGRC) and moderating role of government agency's provision of quality information on social media (GQS). The data was collected from 491 followers of the Facebook account, Instagram, and Twitter pages of a government news agency, i.e., Associated Press of Pakistan and were analyzed using measurement and structural model by employing SmartPls 3.3.0. The results revealed a direct and indirect association of good governance practices with the public's trust in government via PGRC as mediator. Likewise, results showed that GQS interacts with PGRC and augments public trust in government. This study tried to contribute to the body of knowledge while addressing the gap related to the dearth of literature regarding government use of ICT during the COVID-19 pandemic to harvest benefits from social media while communicating with citizens on a larger scale. Moreover, the current study offers valuable practical and strategical recommendations to agencies and policymakers.

1. Introduction

In the contemporary world, the vibrant nature of the government role and the process of governance is among the most prominent and important concerns ( Beshi & Kaur, 2020 ). People always seek their government to be responsible for each action taken to ensure that the public's interests are prioritized ( Farazmand & Carter, 2004 ). Therefore, with time, the state's historical and traditional role is transformed, and the majority's interest became the key concern of the democratic governments ( Grimmelikhuijsen, Porumbescu, Hong, & Im, 2013 ). Besides, the success of the democratic system depends upon the citizens' trust in government. Therefore, governments focus on enhancing public trust by efficiently executing policies and strategies ( Houston & Harding, 2013 ). In connection to that, good governance practices, mainly comprised of responsiveness, accountability, and transparency, are important to satisfy the citizens at large ( Beshi & Kaur, 2020 ). In comparison to good governance, sound governance is considered more comprehensive as it includes normative, technical, and rational features of good governance with superior quality ( Farazmand, 2017 ). However, like many other nations, in Pakistan, the sound governance concept is not so popular yet; therefore, to overcome the prevailing challenges, good governance has been applied as a resolution, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides, the unexpected outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic made many governments apprehensive about the precautionary measure to curtail the virus's spread ( Fetzer et al., 2020 ). Also, the response of the citizens towards those measures was one of the major concerns. As it was evident from many sources that at the beginning and hastening of the Coronavirus, people across 58 nations showed dissatisfaction for government response towards COVID-19; they perceived that the governments' necessary measures are insufficient ( Hale, Petherick, Phillips, & Webster, 2020 ). This perception was further found to be affecting the citizens' trust level in government as they were worried about the fact that their government was not doing enough. Over time, a positive shift in citizens' trust level in governments was reported after the government announced the various measures in the public's best interests ( Galle, Abts, Swyngedouw, & Meuleman, 2020 ). Likewise, the government of Pakistan has witnessed the enhanced public trust in government during the pandemic because of the various decision taken on an emergency basis, i.e., smart lockdowns, free health facilities, and financial help for the needy people.

Besides, social media is one of the rapidly advancing digital channels with 2.62 billion monthly active users worldwide in 2018 ( Jackson et al., 2018 ; Statista, 2018 ). The number is grown to 4.3 billion in 2021 as per the global social media research summary 2021 based on its numerous unique features and fortes, including communication, openness, engagement and involvement ( Tang, Miller, Zhou, & Warkentin, 2021 ; Warren, Sulaiman, & Jaafar, 2014 ). This is why social media is progressively gaining notoriety and grabbing the interest of administrations of developed countries that already started to exploit social media's collective dominance ( Mossberger, Wu, & Crawford, 2013 ). Conversely, in developing countries, social media use at the governmental level is still at an informational stage ( Ali, Jan, & Iqbal, 2013 ) as they mostly use the platforms of social media for news updates or important announcements. In contrast, the public uses social media more frequently and regularly.

Particularly in Pakistan, being a developing country, it is found that the number of monthly active users of social media reached 35 million ( Arshad & Khurram, 2020 ). In the last few years, in Pakistan, government entities and pollical parties started using social media platforms to broadcast important information regarding decisions made at the state level ( Ali et al., 2013 ). Although the use of social media is at the informational stage, the government gradually started to realize its important role ( Memon, Mahar, Dhomeja, & Pirzado, 2015 ). Especially after the outbreak of COVID-19, the Prime minister of Pakistan appeared many times on social media platforms to announce various important decisions and make citizens aware of the government's timely measures and important decisions during the pandemic. as.

Moreover, to the best of the author's knowledge, no study to date has investigated the impact of the interactive effect of GQS and PGRC on building citizens' trust in government. Similarly, although past research reveals the impact of perceived responsiveness ( Gil de Zúñiga, Diehl, & Ardévol-Abreu, 2017 ), perceived accountability ( Farwell, Shier, & Handy, 2019 ; Yang & Northcott, 2019 ) and perceived transparency ( Farwell et al., 2019 ; Porumbescu, 2015 ), on citizens' trust in government. However, still, there is a dearth of literature regarding the influence of all stated good governance elements in enhancing the citizens' trust in government in a single comprehensive framework generally and in developing nation context specifically. Hence, to fill these gap and, in the light of the paramount importance of good governance, it is substantial to examine the level of the public's trust in government and the ways it can be restored and improved ( Arshad & Khurram, 2020 ), particularly in the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Besides, the current study is established on good governance theory, which advocates the responsible, accountable and transparent management of human, financial, economic, and natural resources for sustainable and equitable development in political and government institutions ( Beshi & Kaur, 2020 ). This requires the government to be accountable for its actions by implying transparency and citizens' access to information. Besides, governments also need to be responsive to their people's needs by exhibiting responsiveness and safeguarding human rights to gain public trust. Hence, grounded on the good governance theory, this study aims to examine the direct and indirect association of perceived responsiveness (PR), perceived accountability (PA), and perceived transparency (PT) with public trust in government (TIG) in the presence of perceived government response on COVID-19. In addition, the current study also investigates the interactive effect of GQS and PGRC on citizens' trust in government. To achieve these objectives, the current study is established on a quantitative methodology by conducting an online survey among the followers of a government news agency, i.e., Associated Press of Pakistan (APP). The study results will further provide valuable insights for practitioners and future researchers to explore more facts about the study area.

2. Literature review ND theoretical foundation

According to Houston and Harding (2013, p. 55) , “ trust refers to a willingness to rely on others to act on our behalf based on the belief that they possess the capacity to make effective decisions and take our interests into account”. Besides, trust is considered by many scholars as a complex, multifaceted and ambiguous concept and is viewed as being difficult to conceptualized and examine ( Cheema, 2011 ; Van der Meer, 2010 ). Consequently, the impression of trust may have numerous shades and significance ( Grimmelikhuijsen et al., 2013 ). More substantially, Barnes and Gill (2000) defined trust in government as the confidence that citizens have in authorities to do the right thing. The public expects the government entities to be upright, provide them with justice, safeguard their fundamental rights of food, health, shelter, and safety. Therefore, trust in government refers to the public's expectations regarding their political leaders and government agency's performance regarding how they commit, behave, and fulfil their responsibilities ( Cheema, 2011 ). Hence, evaluation of government performance is based on trust that people instil in the government to run a state's functions ( Yang & Holzer, 2006 ).

Governance is a border term used for government functions at all stages while reacting to citizens' joint or shared problems by fulfilling their needs in the best possible way ( Griffin, 2010 ). According to ( Kaufmann, Kraay, & Mastruzzi, 2010 ), “ governance is a custom, practice, values, and organizations through which power in a state is executed involving the government selection procedure, replacement of government and accountability, honour and rights for citizens and ability of the state to devise and employ its policies”. Previous literature shows that it is difficult to agree upon a single perfect model for good governance fitting into all possible conditions ( Jameel, Asif, & Hussain, 2019 ) as it is a complex structure comprised of multiple features and elements like responsiveness, accountability and transparency ( Qudrat‐I Elahi, 2009 ). A ccountability is conceptualized as the extent to which government is answerable for its decisions and actions to the public ( Shafritz, Russell, & Borick, 2015 ). Transparency is termed as the clarity and accessibility of information provided by the government while keeping the public's interest into consideration ( Mimicopoulos, Kyj, Sormani, Bertucci, & Qian, 2007 ). Perceived responsiveness is “the belief that government officials listen to and care about what citizens have to say” ( Anderson, 2010 , p. 64). At the same time, perceived government response on COVID-19 is defined as the government's prompt response to the pandemic situation to device the laws, regulations, and welfare decision-making in the public's best interest ( Conway III, Woodard, & Zubrod, 2020 ). In the current study, the GPRC has been taken as how the government responded during pandemic times; when there was a dire need to respond quickly and effectively to control the spread of the virus and save the lives of the people and consider the well-being of the people on priority.

2.1. Good governance (PR, PA, and PT) and Citizens' Trust in government

Good governance needs to be implemented to attain the maximum level of public trust in the government ( Jameel et al., 2019 ) as it advocates the government's idea to be inclusive and interactive with the public to compete at the national and international level ( Speer, 2012 ). Simultaneously, perceived responsiveness relates to governments' response to the public's demands ( Bratton, 2012 ) and is measured in terms of the government's willingness to respond to citizens' requests and complaints ( Linde & Peters, 2020 ). Moreover, the responsive government is linked to attention, interaction, and provision of efficient feedback and measured by how well the public perceives that the government listens to them and respond to their queries ( Qiaoan & Teets, 2020 ). According to Yousaf, Ihsan, and Ellahi (2016) , the government's responsive decisions in the citizens' best interests significantly impact the citizens' TIG. A study conducted by Beshi and Kaur (2020) revealed a positive relationship between citizens' PR and TIG. Similarly, Lee and Porumbescu (2019) demonstrated the important role played by responsive governance in shaping public trusts in government while using e-government channels by disseminating valuable information to the public timely. Similarly, according to Wang (2002) , responsive administration can enhance citizens' trust in government for a substantial period ( Wang, 2002 ).

In good governance, PA is an imperative aspect to be considered by the government to create trust among the citizens ( Rahaman, 2008 ). Russell (2019, p. 198) defined accountability as “the extent to which one should be answerable to their higher authority, officials or public for his actions”. Yang and Northcott (2019) explained the government's accountability as a substantial source of building trust. As trust is based on competence, benevolence, and honesty, hence by increasing people's knowledge about governments' policy-making, providing them open access to data as to where resources and funds are being used and how authorities are functioning, can give the perception of accountability ( Porumbescu, 2017 ). Moreover, Wang, Medaglia, and Zheng (2018) stated that citizens rely more on governments that fairly communicate financial and non-financial matters with the general public.

Discloser of all the factors and figures related to important matters is called transparency ( Farwell et al., 2019 ). It relates to providing information about major decision processes, functioning and performance ( Sridhar, Gadgil, & Dhingra, 2020 ). Also, open access to information from governmental entities reflects transparency and creates a notion that the government is acting legally, leading to increased public trust ( Nedal & Alcoriza, 2018 ). In recent years, many international laws, press and media freedom have emphasized access to information by the people from governing authorities ( Moreno-Albarracín, Licerán-Gutierrez, Ortega-Rodríguez, Labella, & Rodríguez, 2020 ). Many governments are applying various digital means to become more transparent ( Matheus, Janssen, & Janowski, 2021 ). Certain countries have enforced NPM (new public management) style, which advocates proactive transparency for gaining public trust ( Song & Lee, 2016 ). Moreover, transparency is considered as a fundamental solution to the issues linked with democratic government; being transparent in decision-making and displaying information to the public governments win citizens' trust ( Grimmelikhuijsen, Piotrowski, & Van Ryzin, 2020 ). Therefore, to create administrative transparency, several efforts are made at the government level that further enhance citizens' trust in government ( Attiya & Welch, 2004 ; da Cruz, Tavares, Marques, Jorge, & De Sousa, 2016 ; Grimmelikhuijsen, 2012 ; Porumbescu, 2015 ). In connection to that, scholars stated that social media is a great platform that government can utilize to be fair and transparent in democratic matters to further build trust among the citizens ( Bertot, Jaeger, & Grimes, 2010 ; Mergel, 2013 ). Likewise, Lee, Lee-Geiller, and Lee (2020) stated that one of the hallmarks of government services is their transparent nature and openness using various official websites to communicate with citizens. Thus, based on the above literature and good governance theory, which advocates that the government must respond to the public concerns in time to establish good governance with a fact that; PR, PA and PT facilitate the citizens to have a better insight of the work done by the government in utmost interests of the citizens to further strengthen their trust level on government. Hence, it is hypothesized that:

Citizens' perception of good governance (perceived responsiveness, perceived accountability, and perceived transparency) is positively associated with their trust in government.

2.2. Good governance (PR, PA, and PT) and perceived government response on COVID-19

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has resulted in a wide range of government responses all over the world. According to past researchers like Karp and Banducci (2008) , citizens' perception of government response towards uncertain situations or natural disasters depends on good governance practices. After the coronavirus outburst in 2019, Liao et al. (2020) conducted a study and found a positive association between the perception of government responsiveness among the citizens and PGRC. Similarly, Sjoberg, Mellon, and Peixoto (2017) revealed that the public is more interested in participating in different activities if it perceives that the government will respond timely and in the best interest of the citizens is purely dependent ant upon the practices of good governance. Further, Shvetsova et al. (2020) asserted that good governance practices are positively associated with the government response to the COVID-19. Besides, Ojiagu, Nzewi, and Arachie (2020) examined the association of the PA and PT with nation-building, utilizing the COVID-19 pandemic as a yardstick and found their significant impact on government response in uncertain situations making decisions in the best interest of the public. Due to the sudden eruption of Coronavirus and multiple uncertain situations, very few scholars researched the PGRC specifically its association with good governance elements. Thus, to fill the gap in the literature and to find some more insights about the intensity of this relationship it is hypothesized that:

Citizens' perception of good governance (perceived responsiveness, perceived accountability, and perceived transparency) is positively associated with perceived government response on COVID-19.

2.3. Perceived government response on COVID-19 and trust in government

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the different course of actions has been witnessed from different nations both in terms of time taken to respond and types of measures adopted to sustain during pandemic ( Hale et al., 2020 ), resulting in a debate among citizens and policymakers. “The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT)” analyzed in detail the organized cross-national measure to access the response of the government during the pandemic, and it further illustrates that this response affected the citizens' trust in government directly ( Hale et al., 2020 ). In a study conducted in health and medical science, Henderson et al. (2020) observed the important role of PGRC in shaping public opinion on government decisions. Similarly, Gates (2020) specified the importance of prompt and accurate government response during crises, specifically to ensure the best health facilities in the country to gain the citizens' trust in such circumstances. Houston and Harding (2013) stated that trust is a prerequisite for the overall system's smooth working. Therefore, governments should respond timely to overcome the anxiety, stress, behavioural and emotional difficulties among the public ( Germani, Buratta, Delvecchio, & Mazzeschi, 2020 ). Adding to that, the perceived government response on COVID-19 has been directly linked with effective virus control ( Pabbajah, Said, & Faisal, 2020 ). The citizens who presume that their government often interacted with them on various platforms, enforced SOP's to combat the spread of the virus and provided the best health care facilities possess greater trust in the government ( Pabbajah et al., 2020 ). Similarly, lower death rates and the number of cases have also been associated positively with government response on the COVID-19 ( Khemani, 2020 ). Finally, based on the available literature and on the fact that providing valid and timely response on various situations the government nurtures publics' trust in their government, it is proposed:

Perceived government response on the COVID-19 is positively associated with citizens' trust in the government.

2.4. Mediation

2.4.1. mediation of the perceived government response on covid-19.

Responsive governance plays a vital role in building trust in government ( Porumbescu, 2017 ). Perceived responsiveness refers to government officials' willingness and ability to listen to the public’ opinion and make decisions accordingly ( Bratton, 2012 ). The government entities' responsiveness is critical because failure to comply with people's demands or issues on time can lead to uncertainty and lack of trust, which have further consequences such as riots and rebellions among the masses ( Miller, 2015 ). Especially in today's era of electronic and social media, government attention and responsiveness to meet their demands and expectations become crucial; therefore, government entities need to be responsible in their decision making to gain the trust of the masses ( Qiaoan & Teets, 2020 ). The government entities use various electronic media to disseminate information to the citizens depicting accountability and transparency towards the public ( Beshi & Kaur, 2020 ). Besides, modern technologies help citizens to understand the importance and accuracy of the various decisions taken by government entities based on prompt access to such information ( Purwanto, Zuiderwijk, & Janssen, 2020 ).

Moreover, accountability deals with how the government uses resources, takes important policy decisions and communicates the same with citizens ( Wang et al., 2018 ). The government entities making decisions based on the understanding that they have to justify those in front of the whole nation are considered more trustworthy ( Yousaf et al., 2016 ). Transparent governments aim to create confidence among the public regarding the governments' decision-making process ( Porumbescu, 2015 ), leading to a higher level of citizens' trust in governments ( Yang and Northcott (2019) . Besides, it is citizens' right to have access to the available information regarding all the important issues based on assumptions that the government which follows an open culture regarding sharing information with people has less room for cover-ups, lies, and malpractices ( Grimmelikhuijsen et al., 2020 ).

Furthermore, some studies revealed the impact of citizens' perception of government responsiveness on the ways government entities responded to natural disasters ( Sjoberg et al., 2017 ) and the COVID-19 ( Ryan & El Ayadi, 2020 ). Besides, Ojiagu et al. (2020) reported the impact of perceived transparency and perceived accountability on PGRC. Simultaneously Liao et al. (2020) and Shvetsova et al. (2020) demonstrated the importance of PGRC to predict citizens TIG. But based on its novel nature, a gap exists in the literature regarding the underlying mechanism of PGRC in between the good governance elements and citizens' TIG. On the other hand, it is of immense importance to examine how the public perception of the government's transparency, accountability and responsiveness leads to an enhanced public trust in government through an interplay of the way government entities responded to the COVID-19 situation. Thus, to fill the gap in the literature, and based on good governance theory, which advocates that the government must respond to the public concerns in time to establish good governance, it is hypothesized that;

Perceived government response on COVID-19 will mediate the association between citizens' perception of good governance (perceived responsiveness, perceived accountability, and perceived transparency) and their trust in government.

2.5. Moderation

2.5.1. the moderating role of government agency's provision of quality information on social media.

The citizens' easier access to the information provided by the government agencies via social media platforms is an authentic source of gaining public trust for a longer period ( Song & Lee, 2016 ; Tangi, Janssen, Benedetti, & Noci, 2021 ). The government's timely and effective response to uncertain situations using e-government platforms results in a higher level of trust among the citizens ( Warren et al., 2014 ). Further, Arshad and Khurram (2020) revealed that the information provided by the government agencies regarding important decisions through social media is considered an authentic source of information and further enhances the trust level of the audience while coupled with the response of the government on different matters. Similarly, Tang et al. (2021) asserted that when government agencies disseminate valuable information on e-government websites, the public gets a clearer picture of the actions taken by the government in the best interest of their citizens, resulting in a higher level of trust among them on government. Moreover, Porumbescu (2017) examined the two channels of providing information by the government, i.e. e-government websites and social media and their association with citizens trust level on government and found positive results.

Besides, COVID-19 has by and large paralyzed global socio-economic activities, and it has severely affected the livelihood of society; experiences vary from country to country. In Pakistan, the government response to combat this pandemic was fairly good, keeping in view the resource constraints. The government has quickly recognized the pandemic's disastrous effect and established a main National Command and Operation Centre and COVID-19 Health Advisory Platform by the Ministry of National Health. An important step was that districts and tehsil level administrative and health staff were mobilized, and necessary resources were provided at the grass-root level. Moreover, the disaster management authority has been mobilized. Even though these departments were present, but the readiness and preparedness for the calamity were lacking. Therefore, with the establishment of the coordinating bodies, free and fair interactions have emerged, and for the first time, all the tiers of governance (federal, provincial, district and tehsil) get involved daily. This interaction provided many opportunities to manage the country affairs and promote social distancing with a clear and firm message, “stay home stay safe”, supported by the district administration to implement the SOPs for COVID-19 all over the country fully. In all these efforts, social media played an important role in providing the necessary input to respond to the challenges ( Anser et al., 2020 ). Simultaneously, senior administrators, the chief ministers of all provinces and health authorities, have taken on the board to control the uncertain situation daily. Their decisions were regularly communicated to the public via government news agency APP and different media channels to synchronize communication. This helped streamline implementing better health practices and restoring the public trust in government in hard times. Thus, keeping into consideration the arguments mentioned above, initiatives taken by the government and the gap regarding the impact of the interaction effect of GQS and PGRS on citizens' trust in government, it is posited that:

Government agency's provision of quality information on social media will moderate the association between perceived government response on COVID-19 and citizen’ trust in government such that the relationship will be stronger in case of higher values of government agency's provision of quality information on social media.

2.6. The theoretical framework of the study

The theoretical framework of the current study ( Fig. 1 ) is formulated based on the good governance theory, evidence and gaps found in the literature, especially in the context of Pakistan. The study proposed that good governance elements, including perceived responsiveness, perceived accountability, and perceived transparency, develop citizens' perception regarding government entities' proper functioning and decision-making, thus, enhancing their trust in government. Moreover, the perceived government response on COVID-19 has been studied as an underlying mechanism between the good governance elements and the public's trust in government. It is postulated that because of the mediating influence of the perceived government response on COVID-19, citizens' trust in government increases since they perceive that government entities are active to respond promptly and effectively in crises situations keeping the welfare of the masses on priority. Furthermore, when the official government agencies and entities communicate this response of the government to the public via social media channels within no time, this positive perception of government response during crises enhances and results in a higher level of trust. Therefore, the moderating role of the government agency's provision of quality information on social media has been studied between the association of perceived government response on COVID-19 and the public's trust in government. Fig. 1 illustrates the theoretical framework.

Fig. 1

Theoretical framework of the study.

3. Research methods

3.1. sampling and data collection.

The theoretical framework of the study was empirically examined by selecting a case study of an agency, i.e. Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), by using quantitative research design as an appropriate survey methodology to acquire data based on public opinion, attitudes and behaviours about a subject matter with no intervention, biases or manipulation at researchers end ( Kelley, Clark, Brown, & Sitzia, 2003 ). The required data set was gathered via survey from the followers of official Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts of the Associated Press of Pakistan, a government-operated national news agency of Pakistan. The Associated Press of Pakistan's social media platforms is used to disseminate official, political and district news. The main aim of sharing content on social media is to spread the government's messages regarding multiple decisions taken at the state level to the maximum audience. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Associated Press of Pakistan remains active throughout to disseminate the government message to the public regarding multiple important aspects in the best interest of the public, whether those are related to smart local down, the closer of educational institutions and recreational places or limiting the direct contact of banking staff with customers etc.

The APP case was chosen based on its relevance with the good governance elements by providing relevant and transparent information to the citizens, and the government's response to COVID-19 first reached the citizens via APP. To approach the APP's followers was thought to be relevant and appropriate as they are directly exposed to the contents posted on social media platforms by the agency and are likely to have feelings of trust or lack of trust in the information provided to them. On the other hand, the rationale behind selecting only three social media sites, i.e., Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, was that government agencies and citizens of Pakistan use these platforms most frequently and commonly. Until 15th July 2020, the total number of APP Instagram page followers was 479,100; Twitter account followers were 45, 900 and Facebook account followers were 57,590. During pandemic on each social media site of APP, one message can be seen #satyhomesavelives, representing government concern for its citizens at large. Social media active users following the APP were identified, and a message was sent to them with a cover letter. The letter had all the important details regarding the reason for conducting the research. The respondents have also been ensured that their details would be kept anonymous, and there are no bad intentions of the researcher to contact them and gather their valuable views, opinions and behavioural responses.

A total of 690 followers of the APP was approached via social media channels, i.e., Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, by sending them messages regarding the author's intention to survey with a brief note regarding the nature of the study. Out of which 503 showed a willingness to participate in the survey. After the consent of the respondents, a questionnaire was sent to them containing four main parts, i.e., questions related to demographic information of the respondent, two general questions regarding the intensity of use of social media platforms by the respondents and the number of years they are following APP, and lastly questions regarding all study constructs measured on 5-point Likert scale. Additionally, to avoid bias, a written note was sent to the respondents and the main questionnaire. That was “ Please fill out the following questionnaire. Keeping the Instagram page/Twitter account / Facebook page/ of APP in mind, indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with the following statements by selecting one of the options. The information provided will be used for research purposes only, and the respondents' confidentiality will be ensured. Please provide an accurate response; your opinions are valuable to us ”. In addition, to ensure that the respondents fill the questioner completely, all the questions were marked as “required” that hold the compulsion to fill the complete questionnaire at the respondents' end, thus avoiding the chance of missing value. Still, after receiving 503 questionnaires when screening was done, 32 unengaged responses were excluded from the analysis. Finally, a total of 471 respondent's data was considered for further analysis, thus generating a response rate of 68.26%.

3.2. Measures of study

A survey consisting of 37 items was used to collect data from the study respondents (Appendix A). “Five-point Likert scale” was used to assess all items. Trust in government was measured with a five-item scale adapted from Grimmelikhuijsen (2012) . This scale includes statements regarding the effective performance of the duties and sincerity of the government towards citizens to check the trustworthiness of the public towards the government. Perceived government response on COVID-19 (PGRC) was measured with a twelve-item scale adapted from Conway III et al. (2020) . The scale includes statements that reflect the citizens' support for government decisions related to smart lockdowns while restricting the citizens' movements in public places. Also, respondents were asked about their support for government officials who were active in strictly ensuring SOPs in the country. Moreover, keeping in view the government efforts to utilize resources in vaccine discovery, respondents were also asked about their support for this cause. A statement regarding the government initiative for relief fund (Ahsaas program) for needy citizens to check the citizens' response was also included in the scale. The scale also has four reverse coded statements to ensure the respondents' engagement in filling the questionnaire. “Government agency's provision of quality information on social media” was measured with a seven-item scale adapted from Park, Kang, Rho, and Lee (2016) with statements related to providing accurate, sufficient timely and diverse information by the agency. A five items scale adapted from Vigoda-Gadot and Yuval (2003) was used to assess the perceived responsiveness of the respondents. The scale included statements related to the government's sensitivity towards citizens and the timely provision of information. To measure perceived accountability, a four-item scale adapted from Said, Alam, and Aziz (2015) , containing statements regarding following rules and regulations by the government to take actions in the public's best interest, was used. Finally, to measure the perceived transparency, a four-item scale was adapted from Park and Blenkinsopp (2011) , where respondents were inquired about the delivery of clear and transparent information by the government.

3.3. Demographic characteristics of the respondents

The respondents' demographic statistics indicated that most of them (63.6%) were males than females (36.4%). The ratio of participants was higher with two different age brackets, i.e., 31.6% were 20–30 years old, and 36.8% were 31–40-year-old, 21.2% of participants were between the age of 41–50 years. In contrast, only 10.5% of respondents were above 50 years old, representing that in Pakistan young generation is more active on social media platforms and take more interest in the news coming from government agencies. In qualification criteria, most of the respondents were well educated, having either bachelor's degree (41.1%) or master's degree (31.6%) in different fields, and 26.4% of participants had high school education upon further investigation via boxplot it was observed that most of these were students (19%). On the other side, 33.3% were employed, 19% were self-employed, and 14.3% were unemployed. A certain percentage (9.5%) of retired persons who use to follow the government agencies page/ account regularly and a certain number (4.9%) of homemakers also participated in the survey. The diverse demographic characteristics reflect that the selected sample for this research is highly representative of the public.

Moreover, in response to a question related to the number of years respondents using social media networks, it was surprising to see that most of the respondents (41.7%) replied for lowest tenure (1–3 years) in their reply, followed by 37.5% responses who reported to be the users of social media for 4–6 years. On the contrary, 16.7% of respondents were long-term users (7–10 years), and only 8.3% of respondents reported using social media networks for more than 10 years. These responses depict a change of trend among the public of Pakistan as they are getting more involved in online activities with time, and this can also be related to the uncertain situations arouse in-country due to COVID-19 and resultant smart lockdown measures taken by the government. This can further be related to the results of another question specifically asked about the respondents' intensity of visiting the pages/accounts of Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), which reflected that about half of the participants (47.8%) visit the APP pages/accounts on hourly bases, 30.4% respondents visit the APP pages/accounts on a daily basis followed by 21.7% who reported to visit APP pages/accounts twice a week respectively to know about the important announcements made by the government through this official news agency.

4. Results of the study

4.1. data analysis.

The SmartPLS version 3.3.0 was used to analyze the data and assess the hypothesized paths. For this purpose, measurement and structural models were used ( Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson, & Tatham, 2006 ; Mansoor, Fatima, & Ahmed, 2020 ).

4.2. Assessing the measurement model

To assess the psychometric properties of the measures, confirmatory factor analysis was performed in SmartPLS 3.3.0. The reliability of the measures was assessed using “composite reliability (CR)” and “Cronbach's α” following the guidelines of Henseler, Ringle, and Sarstedt (2015) . Table 1 depicts the reliability of all the reflective measures based on the values of CR and “Cronbach's α” (≥0.70). “Convergent and discriminant validity” was also assessed. Results revealed that all indicator variables' factor loadings were ≥0.70 with significant loading of each item ( p  < 0.001) onto its underlying construct ( Fig. 2 ). Also, for all the study variables, the “Average Variance Extracted” AVE of the latent constructs was ≥0.50; therefore, “convergent validity “was established ( Hair, Black, Babin, & Anderson, 2010 ; Noor, Mansoor, & Rabbani, 2021 ).

Factor loadings, reliability, and validity.

Fig. 2

Full Measurement Model depicting the ß values (impact size) and factor loadings of all the study constructs' respective items as per the guidelines provided by Hair et al. (2006) .

“CR, composite reliability; AVE, average variance extracted.”

4.3. Discriminant validity

Heterotrait-Monotrait (HTMT) ratio was assessed being an accurate measure of discriminant validity, as suggested by Henseler, Ringle, and Sinkovics (2009) . Table 2 depicts that all the HTMT values were less than 0.9, as recommended by the scholars ( Hair et al., 2010 ; Henseler et al., 2009 ).

Heterotrait-monotrait ratio.

“The square roots of AVEs of the constructs are shown in bold in diagonal.”

Where : TIG = Trust in Government; GQS = Government Agency's Provision of Quality Information on Social Media; PGRC = Perceived Government Response on COVID-19; PR = Perceived Responsiveness; PA = Perceived Accountability; PT = Perceived Transparency.

4.4. Assessing the structural model

Bootstrapping technique was employed to assess the structural paths as a nonparametric procedure. It allows testing the statistical significance of various PLS-SEM results and uses the sample data to estimate relevant characteristics of the population; therefore, to test the hypotheses, 5000 subsamples were used. Moreover, to confirm the hypothesized association ß -coefficient, p -values and t-values were assessed. Simultaneously, the Coefficient of Determination (R 2 ) was utilized to check the model fitness.

4.4.1. Direct hypothesis

In Table 3 the results presented show a positive and significant relationship of citizen's TIG with PR (ß = 0.123**, t   =   2.353), PA (ß = 0.104**, t   =   2.873) and PT (ß = 0.137***, t   =   3.144). Similarly, a positive significant association of PGRC was found with PR (ß = 0.175***, t   =   3.727), PA (ß = 0.293**, t  = 4.738) and PT (ß = 0.166***, t   =   2.709**). Results further revealed that the PGRC positively and significantly affects the citizens' TIG ( ß  = 0.437***, t  = 7.939). Therefore, H1 (a, b, c), H2 (a, b, c) and H3 are fully supported by the results. The R 2 for the direct effect of perceived responsiveness, perceived accountability, and perceived transparency , on perceived government response on Covid19, was 0.562. Whereas the R 2 for the main effect model on the citizens' trust in government was 0.610.

Hypothesis testing results

4.4.2. Mediating hypothesis

As shown in Table 3 , the study's findings support the mediation hypotheses H4 (a, b, c). An indirect and positive effect of PR (ß   =   0.201***, t   = 4.128), PA (ß   =   0.122***, t   = 3.247), and PT (ß   =   0.163***, t   = 3.938) on citizens' TIG were found in the presence of PGRC as an underlying mechanism. As the total effect of the good governance elements (PR, PA, and PT) on citizens trust in government was 0.850*** out of which 0.364*** was the direct effect, and 0.486*** was indirect effect via the PGRC . These results signify the acceptance of mediation hypothesis 4a, 4b and 4c.

4.4.3. Moderating hypothesis

To assess the moderating effect of a construct in PLS-SEM, using the indicator approach and interaction terms between the moderator GQS and the predicting variable PGRC was created ( Chin, Marcolin, & Newsted, 2003 ). The results supported the moderation hypothesis. Specifically, the results indicated significant interaction terms, GQS*PGRC (β =0.237, t-value = 4.521, p  < 0.000), on the relationship of the PGRC and citizens' TIG. Following the moderation result, the R 2 change between the main effect model and the moderation effect model was also examined. The R 2 for the main effect for trust in government was 0.610, whereas its R 2 with a coupled effect of the GQS and PGRC increased to 0.789. The R 2 change suggested that the inclusion of an interaction term increased the explanation power of trust in Government by 17.9%. This enhanced explanatory power in trust in government will further result in strengthening the association between public and government for a sustainable period.

Based on the significant moderation effect, the interaction plot was used to interpret the nature of interaction following the guidelines of Dawson (2014) . Fig. 3 shows that the line labelled for a higher level of GQS has a steeper gradient compared to the lower level of GQS for the association of PGRC with the trust of citizens' TIG . Thus, hypothesis 5 was also supported. Table 3 depicts the results for all hypothesized paths. Also, detailed results are shown in Fig. 4 .

Fig. 3

Interaction plots for moderating effects.

Fig. 4

Full structural model depicting the significance of the hypothesized paths as per the guidelines provided by Hair et al. (2006) .

5. Discussion, implications limitations and future directions

5.1. findings of the study.

The current study applied good governance theory to empirically investigate the association of good governance practices with citizens trust in government directly as well as via underlying mechanism of perceived government response on COVID-19 and moderating role of government agency's provision of quality information on social media in between the relationship of perceived government response on COVID-19 and citizens' trust in government. The specific agency chosen for the current study was the Associated Press of Pakistan. Two demographic variables, i.e., education and occupation, were controlled during the analysis as their significant influence on the dependent variable was found. This is because more educated people squared the responsiveness, accountability, and transparency of the decisions taken by the government carefully while considering the dynamic nature of news coming from government agencies on social media from multiple perspectives. Thus, their understanding of government response on COVID-19 is established after analyzing the rationale behind those responses, ultimately in the public's best interest. Similarly, people in different occupations have different criteria to analyze and interpret the good governance practices and the perceived government response on COVID-19 based on multiple reasons. These reasons can be citizens' social media involvement and maturity level (students versus professionals), financial stability (varied between unemployed, employed and business people etc.), the dynamic nature of their roles in society (either retired and staying at home or simply homemakers) etc.

Besides, the respondents' demographic information revealed that most of the respondents were male (63.6%); the presence of this skewness is in line with the existing literature in the area of the study. For example, Ahmad, Ibrahim, and Bakar (2018) and Arshad and Khurram (2020) stated that in developing countries like Pakistan, women tend to use less internet specifically for social media platforms than men as compared to developed countries like the USA, where females are reported to be more regular social media users. Additionally, it is also evident from past trends and literature that usually women are less interested and expressive regarding their online views on social or political issues and generally use social media platforms for entertainment or communication objectives ( Ahmad et al., 2018 ; Vicente & Novo, 2014 ). The same may be the case for a smaller number of females who participated in the survey being followers of the APP agency. It was also found that most of the participants (64.4%) of the study were young, ranging from 20 to 40 years of age. This might be because all over the globe, including Pakistan, the most frequent users of social media are young people ( Arshad & Khurram, 2020 ; Vicente & Novo, 2014 ).

Moreover, all the study hypothesis was supported, which shows that good governance elements, i.e., PR, PA and PT are significant predictors of citizens' trust in the government. Also, the results revealed a positive and significant relationship of the perceived responsiveness with citizens' trust in government, as noticed by ( Arshad & Khurram, 2020 ; Yousaf et al., 2016 ), reflecting the importance of government responsiveness in decision making in the best interest of the public. This further results in achieving a higher level of citizens' trust. The findings suggest that governments' representatives need to deal with the people's issues responsively and timely through various platforms to make them feel like an essential part of the government decision-making process.

Likewise, the findings related to the relationship of perceived accountability with trust in government are in line with the results of ( Cheema, 2011 ; Farwell et al., 2019 ; Russell, 2019 ; Yousaf et al., 2016 ), who depicted the importance of accountability element in good governance for building and sustaining the trust of citizens on local governments. In context to that, during COVID-19, everyone has been allowed to visit any hospital testing centers so that the public has free access to the best health facilities without any discrimination of class and creed. Similarly, the results linked with the association of the citizens' perceived transparency with their trust in government are consistent with the outcomes of ( Grimmelikhuijsen et al., 2020 ; Matheus et al., 2021 ; Porumbescu, 2015 ), who asserted the significance of transparent information dispersed by the government in achieving a higher level of citizens' trust in government. Moreover, in Pakistan, it has been observed during pandemic times that the government has launched a monetary fund to distribute loans among the needy and provide healthcare and medical staff resources where and when needed without any discrimination on a fair and transparent basis.

Besides, the findings related to the association of perceived (responsiveness, accountability, and transparency) with perceived government response on COVID-19 was in line with the outcomes of ( Ojiagu et al., 2020 ; Shvetsova et al., 2020 ); like the transparent, responsive and accountable governments respond more quickly to the uncertain situations as for those the welfare of their people is the priority. The results depicting the association of perceived government response on COVID-19 and trust in government were similar to ( Germani et al., 2020 ; Hale et al., 2020 ; Henderson et al., 2020 ). They demonstrated the significance of the timely response of the government to uncertain situations and natural disasters to achieve a higher level of citizens' trust.

Also, perceived government response on COVID-19 was found to be positively associated with public trust in government. This reflects the people of Pakistan appreciated the initiatives taken by the Pakistani government during the pandemic. That further resulted in an enhanced level of trust in the government. In connection to that, there are many initiatives that the government of Pakistan has taken during COVID-19; for instance, the federal government was very concerned that complete lockdown likely to damage the most vulnerable class, which is approximately 50% of the total population. The majority of them were daily workers. Due to economic slowdown and lockdown, they were kept back at homes. Therefore, the government initiated providing food and other monetary and health services to that deprived part of the country, resulting in voluntarism. The local community also started to help the needy ones.

Furthermore, the second wave of pandemic government has used ICT and coordination with the districts and tehsils by introducing smart lockdown. Precisely identifying the areas and location with diagnosed disease prevalence and that area was completely sealed, and mobility was shut down. Whereas the areas with satisfactory situation were allowed to carry out their socio-economic activities while ensuring that the public must observe social distancing, mask-wearing and healthy practices while they outside at work. The current study also proved the mediatory role of Perceived government response on COVID-19 among the association of good governance elements and trust in government, proving that response of the governments is the key to overcome the unseen damages because of sudden uncertain situations.

Finally, the findings also revealed that the agency's provision of quality information on social media positively and significantly interacts with the perceived government response on COVID-19 and enhanced the trust among citizens in government. This result is consistent with the findings of existing studies, which proved that “agency's provision of quality information on social media” impact the public's trust in government ( Arshad & Khurram, 2020 ; Bertot et al., 2010 ; Bonsón, Torres, Royo, & Flores, 2012 ; Tang & Lee, 2013 ). As the disclosure of information by the agencies of government results in a reduction in fallacies of the public by making them understand the motives behind decisions made by the government, resulting in a higher level of trust among residents in government ( Grimmelikhuijsen et al., 2020 ; Lee et al., 2020 ; Pittaway & Montazemi, 2020 ). Thus, the provision of quality information by APP on social media in Pakistan expressively boosts their followers' acuity regarding the agency's responsiveness. It resulted in a higher level of trust among citizens in government, providing two-way communication on social media, i.e., empowering the public to have an insight into the relevant information provided by the agency and connecting the public directly with the government while providing their feedback.

5.2. Theoretical implications

The current study's theoretical contributions are manifold. First, it has uniquely considered the validation of good governance theory, which has been used for years to deal with different societies' concerns regarding political and social perspectives, with PGRC and citizens' TIG in a single comprehensive framework. This research also helped answer the questions from past literature about declining trends of public trust in local governments, especially in developing nations. Another significant advancement of this research is a developing country context that provides insights for all developing nations striving for good governance to retain public trust. Besides, this study is unique in the context of Pakistan, given that no empirical evidence has been found for the mediatory role of the perceived response of government on COVID-19 in between good governance practices and trust in government. The current study also revealed that free and fair interaction and engagement among the different stakeholders' offload misperception, apprehension, inhibitions and fatalistic ideas. In context to Pakistan, several incidents during the COVID-19 took place that had initially reflected a sort of confusion had been compounded in responding to challenges of COVID-19. But at the later stage, the establishment of multiple bodies, i.e., National Command and Operation Centre and COVID-19 Health Advisory Platform by Ministry of National Health etc., people started responding to the challenges in a befitting manner.

Moreover, in a developing country like Pakistan, social media platforms are still at their early stages. Developing countries are incorporating it with a continuous increase in demand to scrutinize the innovative ways to utilize these tools by the government ( Memon et al., 2015 ). The current study attempts to shed some light on the inherent benefits of using social media platforms that allow citizens to access the valuable information available on these platforms. Similarly, no study up to date has investigated the interactive effect of quality information provided by government agencies on social media generally and specifically in the context of Pakistan, resulting in a higher level of public trust in government. At large current study contributes to the body of knowledge about the benefits of fair governance practices, governments' timely response on COVID-19 in unpredictable circumstances and the use of social media platforms to disseminate the important news on time in the best interest of the public. It also creates awareness among government bodies towards their responsibilities to encourage citizens to take an interest in democratic matters for valuable feedback and suggestions for constructive input that can help gain legitimacy of current practices by citizens. Also, government agencies need to understand that interactive participation is only possible by continuously taking citizens views related to strategies in the decision-making process instead of imposing their decisions on citizens.

5.3. Practical implications

The current study was conducted to investigate the underlying mechanism of factors leading to public trust in government; hence it can be highly insightful for policymakers, politicians, public administrators, and government officials in multiple ways. The governments' prime responsibility is to formulate strategies in the public's best interest that depict the elements of responsiveness, accountability, and transparency in their decisions. Along with wise decision-making regarding critical matters, government entities must communicate the same in a timely and effective manner with the public to trust the government entities. This trustworthiness further results in good law and order situation in a country as satisfied citizens display decent behaviour and follow the rules and regulations, perceiving them beneficial for society. Moreover, the public's investment rate can be increased by increasing their confidence in the government's decision-making process to further enhance economic development, resulting in sustainable prosperity.

The recent experience of the COVID-19 has empirically substantiated that the federal and provincial government's real task is to empower district and tehsil level governance. It could be instrumental in reinforcing socio-economic progress prosperity and strengthening social institutions to enhance economic and social wellbeing at the grass-root level. Moreover, the administration has to recognize that reforming attitude and behaviour with the public will likely enhance their capacity to manage such crises and develop a cordial relationship. The social perceptibility of the public till the second wave remarkably improved. It is, however, observed that there is a withdrawal effect from prosocial behaviour. This aspect could only be prevented and consistent with adhering to SOPs if social institutions like education and health are effectively mobilized at the lower administrative level.

Adding to that, the government should synchronize communication among all the administrative and public services layers. Establishing a single portal has become imperative for governments and public service organizations to take decisive actions using modern management techniques and resolve the public problem without any rhymes and reasons. Furthermore, synchronizing all four tiers (federal, province, district and tehsil level) through effective communication resource could be better managed and engaged in developing countries like Pakistan having many economic constraints. Besides, trust is established when people experience the good value of public services; in the current pandemic situation, when the basic health services and basic facilities are adequately provided to the people. As in Pakistan, there are 33 million households, and the financial vulnerability of one third is very week. At the same time, COVID-19 has further undermined their lives and livelihood. Therefore, every country must develop “coordinating corona control and relief cells” for comprehensive policy frameworks that create job opportunities among this vulnerable class.

Moreover, this study can provide valuable insight to the APP and other government agencies by apprehending that their provision of quality information on social media vintages many constructive results. For instance, the enhanced trust among their followers regarding responsive functioning of the agency. Further, the APP and other government agencies may inspire their followers to provide their suggestions and opinions and express their views to participate more in state functions by implementing various social media strategies. It can further ensure citizens that their valuable participation is vital for the accurate decision-making process of the government agencies and the smooth functioning of the country at large. Furthermore, the APP case can be considered a sample by other government agencies in Pakistan and other developing countries where there is still room for effectively utilizing the social media platforms to approach the public. In this way, citizens' lost trust in governments in different developing countries can be restored and enhanced, resulting in an environment of happiness and prosperity.

Furthermore, the governments of all developing countries should understand the need for the development of proper IT infrastructure all over the country to provide internet facilities to all citizens, especially to those living in remote areas. This way, many citizens will have access to e-government channels to express their views at a higher level. Likewise, it is the citizens' responsibility to realize that various benefits can be extracted for the countries' overall smooth functioning from their active participation and cooperation with government agencies. Finally, it is a peak time during the COVID-19 pandemic that developing countries' governments and the public recognize their respective role in evolving a comprehensive society by systematically moving ahead for the prosperity of the whole nation.

5.4. Limitations and future directions

Despite the several significances, there are also few limitations of the study. First, the current study focused on collecting data by gathering the opinions of social media followers of a single agency (APP), limiting the generalizability of the results. However, future researchers can broadly examine the other agencies' opinions based on their social media usage intensity. They can compare the data collected from different agencies in terms of the authenticity of the information provided by them and the development of the variable trust level of citizens on different agencies. The researchers may also conduct studies with active social media users who do not follow the pages/accounts of government news agencies and explore its reason. A study can also be conducted about the citizens' political participation on social media and traditional platforms other than social media. A comparison can be made between the social media users and non-users who want their political participation in state matters and vice versa. Secondly, as the current study is based on a convenience sampling technique, most of the respondents who participated in the survey were young males, limiting the generalizability of the results to both age and gender. The futures research can be conducted on quota-based sampling technique in which a certain equal percentage of age groups can be fixed along with a 50% division of total sample among males and female participants to overcome this limitation. Further, a longitudinal research design facilitates researchers to understand better the association among the study variable. Thirdly, the small sample size ( N  = 491) may not truly represent the whole population. In contrast, future researchers can overcome this limitation with extensive data set. Finally, a modern statistical tool, i.e., SmartPLS 3.3.0, was used to investigate the hypothesized relationships and assess the instrument's validity and reliability. This constitutes the quantitative testing of the phenomenon under study. In contrast, a mixed-method approach in which, along with the quantitative examination of the respondents' opinions, in-depth interviews can be conducted to deepen the results and identify the other possible constructs involved in the trust-building process of citizens on government.

6. Conclusion

While fighting with COVID-19, the most critical role was played by governments who had to enforce SOP's and devise strategies to control the spread and decrease the death rate to a minimum along with the fulfilment of all the basic needs of the citizens ( Al-Hasan, Yim, & Khuntia, 2020 ). The most important factor in this scenario is the trust that the public places in the government. Established on good governance theory, the conjecture of this study presumed that good governance practices, i.e., perceived responsiveness, perceived transparency and perceived accountability, are positively associated with the trust in government directly and via the underlying mechanism of perceived government response on COVID-19. The interactive effect of government agency's provision of quality information on social media and perceived government response on COVID-19 has also been analyzed to check the enhanced level of trust among the public of Pakistan by adopting a quantitative survey design and conducting a survey of 491 followers of official Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages of Associated Press of Pakistan. The results support the hypothesis and theoretical framework of the study. The COVID-19 experience also revealed that Pakistan's governance structure evolved as a function of continuous interaction and engagement of all the government tires. This interaction and engagement provided a unique opportunity for public service providers, professionals, and frontline workers to view the situation in their locality and community and take initiatives without compromising broad guidelines and key adherence parameters. Besides, during COVID-19 in Pakistan, government officials freely and fairly interacted with the public without any apprehension and inhibition. Operational people were given a fair amount of opportunity to share their experience that served as valuable input. They started associating their identity with the cause as a function of engagement and interaction besides acknowledging their hard work. Moreover, this study contributes to the body of knowledge about the benefits of the government's ICT usage by providing empirical evidence; if the interaction and communication continue regularly, it will create a culture of healthy practices resulting in a sound and sustainable society.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Mahnaz Mansoor holds an MS degree (2018) with gold medal and distinction certificate in management Sciences from International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), Pakistan. She is a PhD. Scholar at Comsats University Pakistan and a faculty member at Hamdard University Islamabad Campus (HUIC). Her current research interest includes e-governance, social media, Sustainable Development goals and organizational studies etc. Email: [email protected] . https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0954-2482

Appendix A. Measurement items used for data collection

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  • Published: 07 January 2021

Toward better governance of human genomic data

  • Kieran C. O’Doherty   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9242-2061 1 ,
  • Mahsa Shabani   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7128-0474 2 ,
  • Edward S. Dove   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4095-3677 3 ,
  • Heidi Beate Bentzen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8285-818X 4 ,
  • Pascal Borry 5 ,
  • Michael M. Burgess 6 ,
  • Don Chalmers 7 ,
  • Jantina De Vries   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7192-2633 8 ,
  • Lisa Eckstein 7 ,
  • Stephanie M. Fullerton   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0938-6048 9 ,
  • Eric Juengst 10 ,
  • Kazuto Kato 11 ,
  • Jane Kaye   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7311-4725 12 ,
  • Bartha Maria Knoppers   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7004-2722 13 ,
  • Barbara A. Koenig 14 ,
  • Spero M. Manson 15 ,
  • Kimberlyn M. McGrail 6 ,
  • Amy L. McGuire 16 ,
  • Eric M. Meslin 17 ,
  • Dianne Nicol   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6553-2839 7 ,
  • Barbara Prainsack 18 , 19 ,
  • Sharon F. Terry   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0452-9329 20 ,
  • Adrian Thorogood 13 &
  • Wylie Burke 21  

Nature Genetics volume  53 ,  pages 2–8 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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Here, we argue that, in line with the dramatic increase in the collection, storage and curation of human genomic data for biomedical research, genomic data repositories and consortia have adopted governance frameworks to both enable wide access and protect against possible harms. However, the merits and limitations of different governance frameworks in achieving these twin aims are a matter of ongoing debate in the scientific community; indeed, best practices and points for consideration are notably absent in devising governance frameworks for genomic databases. According to our collective experience in devising and assessing governance frameworks, we identify five key functions of ‘good governance’ (or ‘better governance’) and three areas in which trade-offs should be considered when specifying policies within those functions. We apply these functions as a benchmark to describe, as an example, the governance frameworks of six large-scale international genomic projects.

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Acknowledgements

K.C.O.D. is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. H.B.B. is supported by the Research Council of Norway grant number 238999 and NordForsk grant number 81105. P.B. is funded through Horizon 2020 project euCanSHare (an EU–Canada joint infrastructure for next-generation multi-study heart research, project number 825903). M.M.B. is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the National Science Foundation, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and the Research Council of Norway. J.D.V. is supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award number 1U54HG009790 and by the Wellcome Trust under award number 219600_Z_19_Z. E.J. is supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute of the US National Institutes of Health under award number R01HG010661. K.K. is supported by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) under grant number JP19kk0205012. B.M.K. is funded by Genome Canada, Genome Québec and the Canada Research Chair in Law and Medicine. B.A.K. is supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award number U19HD077627. S.M.M. is supported by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health 1U54MD011240 and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health 1P30DK092923. A.L.M. is supported by NIH-NCI R01CA237118 (to R. Cook-Deegan and A.L.M.) and NIH-NHGRI R01HG008918 (to A.L.M. and R. Cook-Deegan). D.N., L.E. and D.C. are supported by Australian Research Council DP 180100269. A.T. is supported by Genome Canada, Genome Québec and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Kieran C. O’Doherty

Metamedica, Faculty of Law and Criminology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Mahsa Shabani

School of Law, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Edward S. Dove

Center for Medical Ethics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Heidi Beate Bentzen

Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Pascal Borry

School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

Michael M. Burgess & Kimberlyn M. McGrail

Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Don Chalmers, Lisa Eckstein & Dianne Nicol

Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

Jantina De Vries

Department of Bioethics and Humanities, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

Stephanie M. Fullerton

Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Eric Juengst

Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

Kazuto Kato

Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Centre of Genomics and Policy, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada

Bartha Maria Knoppers & Adrian Thorogood

University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

Barbara A. Koenig

Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA

Spero M. Manson

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

Amy L. McGuire

Council of Canadian Academies, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Eric M. Meslin

Department of Political Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Barbara Prainsack

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Ethics and good governance

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Public choice research has revealed a variety of political dilemmas associated with governance that tend to make good governance unlikely. This paper suggests that the good governments that we observe are likely to have cultural or ethical support–support that solves or ameliorates the dilemmas uncovered by public choice research. It demonstrates that five important impediments to good governance can be ameliorated by internalized ethical dispositions. Although good government is not generated by ethical conduct per se, some forms of conduct regarded as ethical are supportive of good governance and arguably prerequisites to it.

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good governance research articles

Here and in other papers on the role of ethics in choice, I use the term “pragmatic” in a manner that is a bit more severe than many would use the term. It is used as an antonym to behavior that is “idealistic” in the sense of being substantially determined by one’s internalized norms. This is one of its many definitions. It is not used in its philosophical sense, although this author has some sympathy for its conclusions, but as a term to characterize a person’s immediate, practical, narrow interests in such matters as their own (and perhaps their family’s) health, safety, comfort, wealth, status, and fame.

See, for example, Grether and Plott ( 1979 ) or Ostrom ( 1998 ).

That evolutionary support for such rule internalization exists is implied by a variety of simulation studies, beginning with the simple round-robin tournaments among rules (computer programs) for participating in prisoners’ dilemmas organized by Axelrod ( 1980 ). The first application of simulations to study norms for participating in social dilemmas (with exit) were undertaken by Vanberg and Congleton ( 1992 ), who subsequently extended the approach to multiparty prisoners’ dilemmas with exit possibilities in Congleton and Vanberg ( 2001 ).

Issues of cosmology are beyond the scope of this essay, but it bears noting that a deistic theory of the divine would allow Locke’s theory of natural law to be compatible with both genetic and social transmission of rules of conduct from one generation to the next. Disagreements among deists, physicists, and biologists boil down to whether a first mover exists or not—which of course is not a testable proposition.

A variety of social dilemmas have to be solved for all of that to happen, but they are beyond the scope of this paper. They are addressed in the book manuscript mentioned in a previous footnote on ethics and prosperity.

In many respects, this approach is similar to that developed by Nozick’s classic ( 1974 ) book, who also begins with the Lockean state of nature. However, the point of the present paper is that ethical predispositions are necessary—or at least the most plausible explanations—for solutions to political dilemmas that tend to make extractive regimes more commonplace than productive ones, even in cases in which governing institutions are adopted through largely consensual means. Nozick, in contrast, simply assumes that all agents behave in accord with a specific interpretation of natural rights and explores what types of governments and governmental policies are consistent with such rights.

The equilibrium for such markets is very similar to that of Akerlof’s ( 1970 ) lemons dilemma, but without his differential equations. Note also that this and the other game matrices developed later in the paper can be used to characterize larger number games and the subgame perfect equilibria of finitely repeated versions of such games. Their one-shot versions are adopted to simplify the narrative.

Rent extraction requires the existence of economic profits, which is to say rents that can be extracted or shared without bankrupting the merchant or commercial organization of interest. Such markets would be commonplace when, for example, production processes are Ricardian rather than Marshallian, or markets diverge from perfectly competitive and monopolistically competitive equilibria. The enforcement game with bribery (not shown) tends to generate a stochastic pattern of law enforcement that is sufficient to make the threat of punishment credible but weak enough to maximize the bribe revenue collected.

In the case in which all law enforcers are volunteers, S = 0. In others, S > 0. Including the possibility of S > 0 demonstrates that the problem is not caused by the assumption that the enforcers are volunteers.

Becker and Stigler ( 1974 ) advocate paying law enforcers relatively high salaries (efficiency wages) to reduce their temptation to accept bribes. However, the the enforcement dilemma goes through in that case as well, insofar as such a salary is simply one of many values that S can take. The use of efficiency wages requires a still higher level of authority that would dutifully fire the highly paid rule enforcers that failed to perform their duties.

Congleton and Vanberg ( 2001 ) demonstrate that some evolutionary support exists for such enforcers. Somanathan and Rubin ( 2004 ) provide a social evolutionary theory of the emergence of honesty.

It bears noting that internalized norms also improve the performance of extractive organizations: as with promise keeping, deference to authority, and bravery, which likewise may be reinforced by the formal rule-enforcing aspects of such organizations. The contracts adopted by pirate ships (Lesson 2007 ), for example, clearly relied upon internalized norms for much of their effect on the behavior of both officers and members of the crew.

An institutional structure for divided governance emerges if such rules are to be enforced (executed) by the preexisting customary law enforcing agency. Such divisions have many advantages (Congleton 2011 , 2013 ), but most are beyond the scope of this paper.

Congleton ( 2020 ) suggests that agreement-based governments are likely to rely upon consensus or supermajority rules. Majority rule is used in the examples that follow because it is so widely regarded to be the best rule for collective action—where “best” is used in its normative sense. Such majoritarian norms are likely to play a role in solving the last majoritarian dilemma examined in this paper.

To be fair to Black, he would have regarded such choices as multidimensional in which each person’s net benefit share is a separate dimension. However, as far as pragmatists are concerned, such choices are essentially single dimensional. Only effects on themselves are relevant.

Shepsle and Weingast ( 1981 ) and Weingast et al. ( 1981 ) propose a series of procedures that can stabilize majoritarian systems, which may provide an alternative to the norm-based one suggested in the text. However, such institutionally induced equilibria require that such institutions be adopted formally, which would tend to be subject to the same cycling problems. Moreover, their associated rules have to be followed faithfully. The same reasoning applies to other mechanism design solutions as well. Such solutions thus also rest ultimately on the existence of rules for solving majoritarian cycling problems and supportive “rule-following” norms after the ameliorating institutions are adopted.

Support for such demogrant programs comes and goes in the West. Such programs—sometimes termed negative income taxes—were favored by both mainstream candidates in the 1972 US presidential election and have returned to prominence as proposals for universal basic income in the past decade.

The model easily can be generalized to account for life cycles and economic growth. In a generalized model, pragmatists would maximize the present value of their lifetime incomes, and economic growth would be affected by the size of the demogrant program. The first-order conditions for ideal tax rates and demogrants conceptually would be very similar to those developed above, although the mathematical characterizations would be somewhat more complex and include new terms for time horizons, discount rates, and growth rates. The steady state model examined thus is sufficient for the purposes of this paper.

For an early analysis of the effects of norms on the politics and sustainability of a welfare state, see Lindbeck et al. ( 1999 ).

Lott and Bronars ( 1993 ), for example, find little or no evidence of significant policy or voting changes in an incumbent candidate’s last term of office.

Table  7 leaves out two even higher-income states regarded as democracies because their PPP per capita rgdps were implausibly high: Luxembourg and Norway. Including them would not have changed the basic results.

Bjørnskov and Méon ( 2013 ) provide persuasive econometric support for the generalized trustcausality explanation. Insofar as generalized trust characterizes trustworthiness and trustworthiness is generated by a community’s most commonplace ethical dispositions, the main body of the present paper can be regarded as providing one plausible theoretical explanation for their results.

As I had not read their paper before constructing Table  7 , their results likewise can be regarded as a further test and affirmation of the hypotheses developed above.

Notice that “vintage” is not necessarily decisive. India’s and Germany’s democracies are of approximately equal age and in force long enough to have influenced the political culture of their politicians and parties, but they are still very different in terms of their average effects on income and perceived corruption. However, it also bears noting that India exhibits the highest generalized trust of the poor democracies and Germany is among the lowest of the rich democracies.

See Bjørnskov ( 2019 ) for an overview of public choice research on trust and Potrafke ( 2018 ) for an overview of public choice research on ideology. Evidence of the effects of internalized norms also is indicated by the various “demographic” variables commonly used in statistical studies, although they rarely are grounded in explicit behavioral models.

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Acknowledgements

A previous version of this talk was delivered at the Political Economy of Democracy and Dictatorship conference in Muenster Germany in February 2020, where several useful comments and questions helped push its development forward. The very diligent editor in chief of this journal also provided numerous helpful suggestions. Christian Bjørnskov deserves special thanks for provided the data on trust used in Table  7 .

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