Trust in Implementing Institutions, Ecological Behavior and Decentralized Environmental Governance: The Case of Switzerland

Abstract

AbstractTrust in political institutions has been found to shape individual ecological behaviors and attitudes. In this paper, we investigate trust in implementing government institutions (e.g., public administration). Heightened trust in implementing institutions is theorized to support overcoming environmental social dilemmas, enabling concerned individuals to engage in ecological behaviors. Further, as environmental policies are implemented across levels of government, decomposing trust perceptions in local, regional, and national agencies is crucial. Utilizing survey data from Switzerland, we find that trust in implementing institutions increases ecological behaviors and pro‐environmental attitudes. Further, trusting implementing institutions can help overcome barriers to action, particularly amongst individuals with lower levels of concern. Lastly, we find that the role of trust can differ by level of government and ecological behaviors and attitudes. These findings support research on the moderating role of trust in the concern‐behavior gap, exploring new conceptualizations across levels of government and measures of policy support.