Academic literature on the topic 'Policing, trust, survey'

Immigrants are often less trusting of police than non-immigrants because they can feel ill-served by police and the laws they enforce. Procedural justice policing has been regarded as central to improving public trust and confidence in police. Using survey data from citizens exposed to the world’s first randomized field trial of procedural justice policing (Queensland Community Engagement Trial), we found that trust in police, but not willingness to report crime to police, was higher among those exposed to the procedural justice condition compared to the control condition. Interestingly, the effect of procedural justice on trust and crime reporting was moderated by age and immigrant status; procedural justice had a more positive effect for immigrants, particularly those younger than 26 years of age.

PurposeAs tensions between the police and community grow, one often called upon solution is a more diverse police force. However, building diversity presents many challenges, especially if there are barriers for choosing a career as a police officer. The present study explores motivations and barriers to becoming a police officer to help reduce the disparity between the community and police.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey of 344 persons in the US asked respondents to identify the motivations and barriers to choosing a career as a police officer. Survey questions centered on issues related to trust, police culture, practices of the police and lack of awareness of career opportunities.FindingsResults indicated that higher trust of the police, positive perceptions of police fairness and knowledge of potential police career opportunities increased an individual's interest in pursuing a career as a police officer. At the same time, negative views in these areas were barriers to interest in policing. These results give insight into where efforts can be focused to increase interest in becoming a police officer.Originality/valueThere is a lack of research on factors leading to an interest in a policing career. This study provides insight into the reasons for and barriers to entering a career in policing and provides a starting point for future research and practical implications for police departments seeking to increase interest in a policing career.

Many studies have looked at the public’s trust in the police, but very few have examined police trust in the public. Based on Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman’s model of trust, we conducted two studies. The first study created scales measuring the antecedents of trust and assessed police trust in the public based on a survey of 990 police officers from across the United States. The second study used the trust measures developed in the first study, as well as supervisors’ evaluations and archival performance data, in a study of the job performance of 135 police officers. We found that officers who had greater trust in the public engaged in more proactive policing and made more arrests. We discuss the implications of these findings, including what they mean for police officers and the communities they serve.

Purpose Police-community relations are currently at a cross-road. Incidents over the past several years have severely damaged trust and faith in the police – particularly in minority communities. Society is faced with the choice of accepting an “us-vs-them” mentality with police on one side and citizens on the other or banding together to advance police-community coproduction in reducing violence. The purpose of this paper is to advance the latter by introducing a model for police to follow in police-citizen interactions in an effort to increase perceptions of fairness and legitimacy of police officers and police departments. Design/methodology/approach Using data from the National Police Research Platform’s Police-Community Interaction Survey, correlates of perceptions of fairness in police-community encounters as well as variation in agency-level fairness across 53 jurisdictions are examined. Findings Results show that application of the H.E.A.R.T. medical model is the most significant and substantial correlate of perceived fairness of police-community interactions and accounts for agency-level differences in perceived fairness. Originality/value The results highlight important ways that police can improve their image in the community and with minority communities in particular.

Purpose – The maintenance of public order and the control of crime are clearly amongst the primary objectives of global law enforcement agencies. An important antecedent to this is the consideration of public trust in their police force. The purpose of this paper is to utilise data from the fifth round European Social Survey (ESS), to investigate how public social indicators may be highlight the level of trust in a country’s police force. Design/methodology/approach – The results from the ESS are analysed using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), multiply conjunctional causal configurations of the considered social indicators are then established and analysed. Findings – A consequence of using fsQCA, asymmetric causal configurations are identified for the relative high and low limiting levels of trust towards the police in the considered countries. The results offer novel insights into the relationship between social indicators and police trust, as well as expositing a nascent technique (fsQCA) that may offer future potential in this area. Originality/value – This paper introduces a nascent technique (fsQCA) to analyse a major European data set relating to citizens perceptions of the police. The findings might prove useful for policing organisations as they develop strategies to maintain/improve the level of trust and confidence of citizens in the policing services they provide.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the work of the Street Pastors, a Christian organisation offering support to people in the night time economy (NTE), through the perceptions of students. The role played by this organisation is becoming more important as a shift from policing “by”, “through” and “beyond” to policing from “below” occurs (Jones and Lister, 2015). While the Street Pastors would not regard themselves as “police agents” there is undoubtedly a close connection albeit with geographical variation (Johns et al., 2009b). An evaluation of their activities and of public attitudes particularly around issues of trust is therefore important. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey using the university’s student “portal” invited students to participate. A small incentive was offered, in the form of a prize draw for £50 worth of shopping vouchers. The survey took place during the first part of the Spring term during 2012 (January and February). The study analyses the 361 responses in reference to their knowledge of the Street Pastors, whether they had any “interactions” with them and whether they were regular users of the NTE. Findings – Overwhelmingly respondents were either positive or completely ambivalent about the Street Pastors. The responses to the attitude statements indicated that the Street Pastors are seen as “independent” of police officers. The links between Street Pastors and crime reduction are not clear, however, respondents agreed that the Street Pastors did contribute to safety in the city. Research limitations/implications – There are more than 20,000 students in the city and the findings can therefore be seen as tentative and indicative rather than generalisable to the entire student population. With the increasing emphasis on community involvement in “policing”, the findings from the research does suggest that the street pastor’s voluntary patrols are beneficial in terms of enhancing perceptions of safety. Practical implications – Street Pastors do have an important role in the policing of the NTE, from handing out water and flip flops to comforting those who are in distress. Within the broader “police family” their role can then make a positive contribution to the practical challenges associated with a volatile environment. Social implications – The NTE is associated with considerable public health and safety issues and the contribution of a voluntary group to easing some of these problems is significant. Whilst their presence is not entirely unproblematic, particularly in raising questions of accountability, their activities could be argued to contribute to the well-being of revellers. Originality/value – Research on policing “below” the level of the state is street pastors is an under-explored area. Street pastors have attracted very little attention despite their being a large organisation that are a feature of NTEs throughout the UK.

Immigrants who believe they suffer from stigmatization and discrimination may still demonstrate positive attitudes toward government authorities. We explore this trust–discrimination paradox by examining perceptions about police and policing among Ethiopian Jews in Israel, an immigrant racial minority. Drawing on data collected from focus groups and survey results, we find that levels of trust in the police among Israelis of Ethiopian descent are equal to or higher than among veteran Jewish Israelis. Nevertheless, Ethiopian Israelis also report negative perceptions of the police that are rooted in strong feelings of stigmatization by these government agents. While trust in the police may reflect Ethiopian Jews’ desire for integration, participation, and inclusion as legitimate and equal members of nation and state, we demonstrate that they use various de-stigmatization strategies whose aim is to downplay the importance and depth of their discrimination by the police. These strategies, we argue, allow Ethiopian Israelis to maintain positive attitudes toward the police.

The procedural justice model of policing has gained much popularity in scholarship and empirical support in democracies, yet research on the procedural justice within police organizations, particularly the mediating mechanisms connecting internal procedural justice and officer behavioral tendencies, is rather limited. With an aid of survey data collected from Taiwanese police officers, this study tests the connections between internal procedural justice and officers’ compliance with agency rules and cooperation with supervisors via an essential element—trust in supervisors. Internal procedural justice was found to be directly related to trust in supervisors and officer cooperation with supervisor, whereas the association between internal procedural justice and compliance with agency rules is mainly indirect through trust in supervisors. This study concludes with discussing research and pragmatic implications of findings.

‘Confidence’ is widely taken to be a crucial measure of the relationship between citizens and public services such as policing. It is acknowledged that confidence is multifaceted and hard to measure, but often discussions are based on one ‘headline’ rating of a single item, for instance: ‘What is your level of confidence in…’. The subsequent focus for research is explaining what might drive ‘confidence’, or what it might predict. We are interested in a more fundamental question: what does it mean when we ask the public if they are ‘confident’ in policing? To answer this, we analyse extensive and detailed survey data specifically designed to measure public confidence, within the jurisdiction of a UK police force – West Midlands Police. We develop then validate a three-part model of confidence as trust, fairness and presence, and find good evidence to support this model across different waves of the survey. This extends existing literature with implications for policy.

The increasingly visible presence of heavily armed police units in American communities has stoked widespread concern over the militarization of local law enforcement. Advocates claim militarized policing protects officers and deters violent crime, while critics allege these tactics are targeted at racial minorities and erode trust in law enforcement. Using a rare geocoded census of SWAT team deployments from Maryland, I show that militarized police units are more often deployed in communities with large shares of African American residents, even after controlling for local crime rates. Further, using nationwide panel data on local police militarization, I demonstrate that militarized policing fails to enhance officer safety or reduce local crime. Finally, using survey experiments—one of which includes a large oversample of African American respondents—I show that seeing militarized police in news reports may diminish police reputation in the mass public. In the case of militarized policing, the results suggest that the often-cited trade-off between public safety and civil liberties is a false choice.

This thesis tackles why people trust the police. Chapter 1 is an introductory chapter aimed at explaining why it is important to study which factors affect people’s trust in the police. It begins by considering that the police, faced with a crisis in public security, new trends in policing and police ineffectiveness in preventing crime, risk losing their legitimacy (para. 1.1). It also considers that the police are reacting to this crisis by developing strategies aimed at increasing people’s trust in them. This is also occurring because recent studies have emphasised the importance of trust in the police for the success of crime prevention and insecurity reduction strategies (para. 1.2). Although the call for developing and sustaining these trust-oriented strategies has been loud, it is recognised that we need to know ‘if’ and ‘how’ police’ work may affect people’s trust in the police (para. 1.3). This thesis, therefore, looks at the reason why people trust the police, in order to know if and how police work may affect people’s trust in the police (para. 1.4). In chapter 2, a review of extant research literature in the area of trust and trust in the police is presented. The chapter starts by tackling theoretical issues on trust in human and social sciences in order to learn why people trust the police. From this review two different perspectives about why people trust the police are discussed. In the first, people trust the police because they have a subjective inclination to do so; in the second, people trust the police because police actions induce them to do so (para. 2.1). Next, the chapter reviews studies on factors of trust in the police, in order to learn which perspective regarding why people trust the police has more support from empirical research (para. 2.2). Considering that the findings of previous studies do not provide a definitive answer, at the end of the chapter three research hypotheses on which variables affect trust in the police are formulated (para. 2.3). Chapter 3 presents the design and methodology used to test the research hypotheses. Data from a survey of residents’ attitudes towards police in Trentino, a northern Italian province, are analysed. The chapter begins by providing information on where the survey was conducted (para. 3.1). Then, it answers the methodological issues that arise from the following questions: how did the survey collect data? How was the sample selected? How was the data analysed to test the research hypotheses? How were dependent and independent variables measured? (para. 3.2). Next, the chapter presents the main findings of the data analyses (para. 3.3). In conclusion, chapter 4 discusses the findings and examines the implications as well as makes recommendations for future research.

This chapter focuses on the limited success of the police in improving public safety in most countries of the region, showing that in most countries law enforcement agencies have been unable to lead effective anti-crime programs. Police structures and crime-fighting strategies are surveyed, and it is argued that police forces generally reacted slowly and erratically against rising crime, that they did not develop strong information systems to fight organized crime, and that they have lacked the support of citizens due to the past repression and corruption. Using arrest, survey, and administrative data this text underscores two variables that correlate with rising criminality: a) the failure to incorporate modern, large-scale policing techniques, particularly those that make use of information and intelligence, and b) the failure of police to adjust to new standards after transitions to democracies, undermining bonds of trust between police and citizens.

We present the first study that examines the effects of ethnic diversity on informal work. Using two waves of data from the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey, we find that ethnic diversity is associated with a higher probability of engaging in informal work. Specifically, our instrumental variable estimates suggest that a unit increase in ethnic diversity is associated with up to a 26.3 percentage point increase in the probability of engaging in informal work. This result is robust to alternative estimation approaches and alternative ways of measuring ethnic diversity. Our results also show that trust, which is lower in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods, is an important channel through which ethnic diversity operates to increase the probability of engaging in informal work. Our results point to the need for policies that promote trust between diverse ethnic groups in heterogeneous societies.

This chapter returns to the public opinion survey data to examine the same question as the previous chapter but from a quantitative perspective. In general, the evidence shows that the presence of female clergy, policies regarding female clergy, and lay female leadership in congregations matter in terms of people’s level of religiosity, spirituality, and trust in and identification with their congregations. These effects, though, are more modest than often asserted: women in congregations with the strongest degree of female leadership have levels of religiosity—about 13% higher than women in congregations with the maximum amount of male leadership. The evidence also shows that sharing leadership equally between men and women would produce similar results. Most interestingly, we find that the effects are found not only among women but especially among political and theological progressives.

AbstractThe emergence of fake news has systematically challenged traditional media institutions as disinformation and misinformation are increasingly utilised in political attacks on social media. As in many countries, also in Finland, the emergence of current counter media sites is closely connected to the rise of the anti-immigration movement, and immigration policies and immigrants have been targets of the massive social media disinformation and misinformation campaigns. By employing a nationally representative survey (N = 3724) from Finland, this study investigates how three social-media-related concerns addressing misinformation and disinformation are explained by political party preferences, media trust, and immigration attitudes. We found that the supporters of the populist party, the Finns, had more critical views on freedom of expression and monitoring of hateful content on social media. Moreover, they were less concerned with the flow of fake news on social media. Based on mediation analysis, we found that trust in traditional media and attitudes on immigration are lowest among the supporters of the Finns, which also explained their different views on fake news, freedom of expression and hateful content monitoring. Even though the independent variables were highly inter-correlated, they also associated individually with social media users’ perceptions. We argue that the accumulation of negative immigration attitudes and low trust in the media is reflecting attitudes towards social media among the supporters of populist parties. The results underline the populist right-wing communication strategy, which questions the reliability of mainstream media, undermines professional journalism, criticises political correctness, and appeals to those who are most frustrated with mainstream media and critical towards immigration.

AbstractLately, several studies have added crucial knowledge to our understanding of social movement participation by demonstrating its processual nature and how it relates to individual-level movement outcomes. Still, moral factors like values remain understudied. This paper develops a model of relationships between two types of value predispositions—self-transcendence and conformity—and differential participation in humanitarian activities, political protest and civil disobedience and their consequences for attitudinal changes of loss of institutional trust and an altered view of refugee policies. We use cross-sectional survey data from the mobilisation of the Danish refugee solidarity movement, which was revitalised in response to the 2015 refugee crisis. The main finding is that values, in accordance with our theoretical expectations, mainly influence attitudinal outcomes mediated by contexts of different kinds of movement activities. Conformity relates to participation in non-contentious humanitarian support activities that do not relate to any attitudinal outcomes. The non-conform and self-transcendent respondents participate to a higher degree in contentious political protest and civil disobedience, which relates to a loss of trust in the political institutions. The results suggest that heterogeneity of values and contexts of activism within a movement have implications for social movements’ role in the struggles for society’s fundamental morality, individual-level biographical outcomes of activism and movements’ internal processes related to collective identity.

AbstractThis chapter summarizes the key insights derived from a three-dimensional perspective on EU–Turkey relations that combines the analytical lenses of (1) theories and concepts, (2) institutions, and (3) policies. It furthermore reflects upon the different periodizations of the EU–Turkey relationship. On this basis, we offer a systematic survey of the conditions under which cooperative trends in EU–Turkey relations could be (re)invigorated. The analysis shows that despite the high potential for reciprocity inside and outside the accession framework, the relationship currently rests on unfavorable conditions for cooperation on both sides. Important enablers of cooperative behavior—trust, communication, reputation, fairness, enforcement, and common identity—cannot properly operate in the current setup. The chapter puts forward possible means to allow for these enablers to facilitate cooperative behavior in EU–Turkey relations in the future. It concludes by discussing the future trajectory of the relationship and pinpointing avenues for a future research agenda for EU–Turkey studies.

The trend of e-governance and m-governance in governance is increasing rapidly and the instrument of governance is getting closer to the citizens. This chapter considers the trust and reputation of the digital environment of e-governance and m-governance in the world from the existing legal and judicial inkling. How sufficient are the international policies and benchmarks on the use of information communication technology (ICT) for e-governance and m-governance within and among nations to be trusted and judged to be of good repute among the users and has it been able to promote the use of e-governance and m-governance among the nations of the world? The theoretical framework that this chapter hinges on is the actor network theory (ANT). It emerged from a line of research broadly referred to as the social shaping of technology. The methodology adopted focuses on the United Nation survey data on e-governance from 2005-2016. The data collected is analyzed based on regional and economic groupings for e-government development index (EGDI) of Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

Protecting personal information while Web surfing has become a struggle. This is especially the case when transactions require a modicum of trust to be successfully completed. E-businesses argue that they need personal information so they can create viable data to tailor user interactions and provide targeted marketing. However; users are wary of providing personal information because they lack trust in e-businesses’ personal information policies and practices. E-businesses have attempted to mitigate user apprehension and build a relationship base in B2C transactions to facilitate the sharing of personal information. Some efforts have been successful. This chapter presents survey results that suggest a relationship between gender and how users control personal information. The findings suggest that e-businesses should modify information and privacy policies to increase information and transactional exchanges.

National identity can encourage social cohesion and a shared sense of identity leading citizens to want to help, support, and trust one another. However, it can also lead to marginalization and even oppression. This chapter examines the consequences of national identity for Americans’ views toward income inequality and poverty. It proposes a broad theoretical framework for predicting when national identity will lead individuals to support or oppose redistributive policies. This framework is tested using a nationally representative survey and a laboratory experiment. The results suggest that American identity can be associated with lower levels of concern about income inequality and opposition to poverty alleviating policies. However, this relationship is moderated by implicit associations. The more individuals make an implicit association between wealth and being ‘American’, the more national identity leads to conservative attitudes regarding income inequality and poverty. These findings suggest national identity can be oppressive when individuals perceive a certain characteristic, in this case wealth, as a fundamental aspect of being a ‘true’ American.

The study aims to identify the factors that facilitate managing healthcare organizational change during uncertainty-perspective of COVID-19. The role of communications for managing employee's perception during change in the healthcare organizations has been examined. Mixed method approach is used in this study to identify the factors that facilitate healthcare organizational change during uncertainty. Data collection was semi-structured interviews with purposive sampling to select respondents. Clustered probability sampling method has been carried out for the questionnaire survey and analyzed the data with SPSS. The result showed that the specific change-related uncertainties can be best addressed by different sources of communication. Trust plays a crucial role for creating a positive perception through effective change-related communication. The employees who perceived they received quality change communication reported being more open toward the change during uncertainty. A five-step model was developed to link as a facilitator with uncertainty and manage change successfully.

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the current status of online privacy policies of Fortune 100 Companies. It was found that 94% of the surveyed companies have posted an online privacy policy and 82% of them collect personal information from consumers. The majority of the companies only partially follow the four principles (notice, choice, access, and security) of fair information practices. For example, most of the organizations give consumers some notice and choice in term of the collection and use of their personal information. However, organizations fall short in security requirements. Only 19% of organizations mention that they have taken steps to provide security for information both during transmission and after their sites have received the information. The results also reveal that a few organizations have obtained third-party privacy seals including TRUSTe, BBBOnline Privacy, and Safe Harbor.

Abstract This chapter examines Millennial and non-Millennial preferences for news consumption. It first shows that Millennials are far more likely than non-Millennials to get their news from “new media” sources such as the internet and social media. Although these news sources are rife with misinformation, there is scant evidence that Millennials have a harder time than older generations in separating fact from fiction. This leads to the conclusion that individuals who lack confidence in their ability to spot misinformation avoid online news. Additionally, the chapter explores how varying news diets influence attitudes about trust in government and various public policies. Importantly, across a host of policy attitudes and engagement measures, Millennials show greater opinion homogeneity in the eight countries surveyed than non-Millennials, leading to the conclusion that Millennials’ core persona and reliance on new media sources lead to more consistent views across the globe.

Introduction: Trust in government to take care of its citizens may affect mental health outcomes such as anxiety and depression, particularly as measures become more stringent. The study aimed to investigate the associations between stringency of COVID-19 social distancing policies and mental health outcomes, and the moderating effects of trust in government and gender. Methods: The study consisted of secondary analysis of publicly available cross sectional data from a global online survey COVID-19 survey conducted between 20 March and 7 April 2020. There were 106,497 adult participants (18 years of age and over) from 58 countries. The main outcome measures were indices for depression and worries. The exposure measure was the stringency index. The effect modifier measures were gender and trust in government. Multivariable regression was conducted to determine the three-way interaction between the exposure, modifier and outcome measures, adjusting for age, income and education. Results: The median age of participants (56.4% women) was 37 years. Women had higher worries and depression than men. The proportion of people trusting (44%) and distrusting (45%) the government was almost the same. Among those who strongly trusted the government, an increase in policy stringency was associated with an increase in worries. Among men who distrusted the government, an increase in policy stringency was associated with an increase in depression, but in distrusting women there was an inversed Ushaped association between policy stringency and both worries and depression. Once policies exceeded the 50-point mark on the stringency index, women benefited from the most stringent policies, yet men did not, particularly men who strongly trust or distrust the government. Conclusion: As the stringency of public health measures increases, so too do depression and worries. For safe and effective public health measures, governments should develop strategies to increase trust in their actions.

Privacy concerns of smart home device (SHD) users have been largely explored but those of non-users are under-explored. The success of smart home technology comes to fruition only when concerns of both users and non-users are addressed. Understanding of non-user concerns is essential to inform the design of user-centric privacy-preserving SHDs, facilitate acceptance, and bridge the digital divide between non-users and users. To address this gap, we conducted a survey of SHD non-users and comparatively analyzed their privacy concerns with those of users.Methods: We used university email list-servs, snowball sampling and random sampling methods to recruit participants (n=91) for an IRB-approved online survey, titled ‘smart home study’. Our pre-tested questionnaire asked about SHD (non-)usage, privacy concerns (open-ended), suggestions for developers and demographics. We followed a mixed-methods approach to analyze privacy concerns (qualitative/thematic), explore non-use reasons (qualitative/thematic), compare non-users and users concerns (quantitative), and analyze design suggestions (qualitative/thematic). Results: Thematic analysis of privacy concerns of non-users (n=41) and users (n=50) by two researchers performing open-coding (Cohen’s kappa = 0.8) resulted in 17 codes. We then performed axial coding to generate three thematic areas of privacy concerns. The first theme was ‘data collection concerns’ which included five codes: recording audio/video, tracking occupancy, listening to private conversations, monitoring usage/behavior, and identity theft. The second theme was ‘data sharing concerns’ which included four codes: selling data, third party data access, leakage without consent, and marketing data. The third theme was ‘data protection concerns’ which included eight codes: hacking, data handling, protecting data, secondary use, aggregation, data abuse, data loss, and fraud. The three privacy concerns themes belong to the personal communication and personal data privacy dimensions of privacy. Chi-square test between non-users and users showed the privacy concerns of non-users differed significantly (X2=8.46, p<0.05) from users. Non-users reported higher level of concerns in data collection and data protection themes than those of users (46% vs 24% and 34% vs 30% respectively). However, non-users reported fewer concerns in the data sharing theme than those of users (15% vs 28% respectively).Most non-users reported their non-use reason to be privacy concerns (68%). Other non-use reasons included lack of interest in SHDs (32%), cost (22%), lack of perceived usefulness (12%), insecurity or potential of hacking (10%), and perceived difficulty of usage (7%).The thematic analysis of participants’ suggestions for developers resulted in four main themes: (a) data anonymization and minimization, (b) data protection and security, (c) transparent data use policies, and (d) user-centric practices. Based on our findings, we recommend that developers address the data collection and data protection concerns to allow SHD non-users to consider using them. In addition, we recommend addressing data sharing concerns to retain trust of current users. We discuss some guidelines in the paper.Conclusion: This paper contributes by eliciting SHD non-user privacy concerns and provides insights on addressing the concerns, which will be useful for developers towards the design of user-centric privacy-preserving SHDs.

This paper studies the effect of two place-based policies implemented in Cali, Colombia on social capital and trust. We use the CaliBRANDO survey to account for institutional and interpersonal trust, matching neighborhood of residence and where policies are applied. We set up a difference-in-difference model to estimate the impact of the policies on the indexes that measure trust. We nd that the organized sport policy improves institutional trust by about 4%. Our results are significant for soccer and basketball and not significant for futsal and other activities. The evidence does not support an effect of nightlights on trust.

Environmental policies are characterized by salient short-term costs and long-term benefits that are difficult to observe and to attribute to the government's efforts. These characteristics imply that citizens' support for environmental policies is highly dependent on their trust in the government's capability to implement solutions and commitment to investments in those policies. Using novel survey data from Mexico City, we show that trust in the government is positively correlated with citizens' willingness to support an additional tax approximately equal to a days minimum wage to improve air quality and greater preference for government retention of revenues from fees collected from polluting firms. We find similar correlations using the perceived quality of public goods as a measure of government competence. These results provide evidence that mistrust can be an obstacle to better environmental outcomes.

Theory suggests that employee trust is key to productivity in organizations, but empirical evidence documenting links between trust and constraints on performance is scarce. This paper analyzes self-collected data on public sector employees from eighteen Latin American countries and finds that individual-level trust is relevant to three types of performance factors. First, high-trust employees are more willing to collaborate and share information with coworkers and are more supportive of technological innovation. Second, high-trust respondents have different perceptions of organizational constraints: they are less concerned with low staff quality or lack of discretion to innovate, and more concerned with staff shortages. Third, trust in coworkers is associated with stronger mission motivation. Instrumental variable strategies based on the transmission of trust through social and professional channels account for potential sources of endogeneity. A survey experiment on preferences for social distancing policies provides further evidence that trust enhances mission motivation: employee policy preferences align better with the implied government policy when their trust in the public sector is higher.

Theory suggests that employee trust is key to productivity in organizations, but empirical evidence documenting links between trust and constraints on performance is scarce. This paper analyzes self-collected data on public sector employees from eighteen Latin American countries and finds that individual-level trust is relevant to three types of performance factors. First, high-trust employees are more willing to collaborate and share information with coworkers and are more supportive of technological innovation. Second, high-trust respondents have different perceptions of organizational constraints: they are less concerned with low staff quality or lack of discretion to innovate, and more concerned with staff shortages. Third, trust in coworkers is associated with stronger mission motivation. Instrumental variable strategies based on the transmission of trust through social and professional channels account for potential sources of endogeneity. A survey experiment on preferences for social distancing policies provides further evidence that trust enhances mission motivation: employee policy preferences align better with the implied government policy when their trust in the public sector is higher.

This study describes the perception, adoption, and acceptance factors involved in the deployment of digital technologies for public health in Latin America and considers the implications for future digital health interventions. We conducted a descriptive analysis using nationally representative data from a phone survey conducted in 2020 in 10 countries in Latin America. We found that early in the pandemic, in countries with existing applications, 74% of the population used a smartphone, 47% had knowledge of the government app to report symptoms, but only 2% reported using it. Those interviewed reported that they are willing to share their personal data during a pandemic (61%) 50 percentage points higher than in non-pandemic times, although understanding how their personal data was used by the government and private companies was extremely low. More than 70% reported that they would use an application to report symptoms and would use an app that accesses their location or that uses contact tracing technology to alert them about possible exposure. Also, at least half of the users agree with preventive measures against COVID-19 such as daily follow-up calls, tracking via GPS for quarantine enforcement, and daily visits. In all countries, adoption of digital technologies increases if individuals or their relatives report they are infected; it decreases when end-users do not trust the anonymity policies or are concerned about government surveillance. Yet, encouraging greater adoption of digital technologies strongly depends on who designed the technology. Results show that 73% of users would prefer an app designed by an international organization such as the WHO to an app designed by the local government (64%) or a telephone company (56%). The study concludes with a reflection on the promising results of digital technologies and discusses the importance of considering users perceptions, factors for acceptance, and trust when pursuing adoption of digital technologies.

This report maps the African landscape of Open Science – with a focus on Open Data as a sub-set of Open Science. Data to inform the landscape study were collected through a variety of methods, including surveys, desk research, engagement with a community of practice, networking with stakeholders, participation in conferences, case study presentations, and workshops hosted. Although the majority of African countries (35 of 54) demonstrates commitment to science through its investment in research and development (R&D), academies of science, ministries of science and technology, policies, recognition of research, and participation in the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI), the following countries demonstrate the highest commitment and political willingness to invest in science: Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. In addition to existing policies in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), the following countries have made progress towards Open Data policies: Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda. Only two African countries (Kenya and South Africa) at this stage contribute 0.8% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to R&D (Research and Development), which is the closest to the AU’s (African Union’s) suggested 1%. Countries such as Lesotho and Madagascar ranked as 0%, while the R&D expenditure for 24 African countries is unknown. In addition to this, science globally has become fully dependent on stable ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) infrastructure, which includes connectivity/bandwidth, high performance computing facilities and data services. This is especially applicable since countries globally are finding themselves in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), which is not only “about” data, but which “is” data. According to an article1 by Alan Marcus (2015) (Senior Director, Head of Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries, World Economic Forum), “At its core, data represents a post-industrial opportunity. Its uses have unprecedented complexity, velocity and global reach. As digital communications become ubiquitous, data will rule in a world where nearly everyone and everything is connected in real time. That will require a highly reliable, secure and available infrastructure at its core, and innovation at the edge.” Every industry is affected as part of this revolution – also science. An important component of the digital transformation is “trust” – people must be able to trust that governments and all other industries (including the science sector), adequately handle and protect their data. This requires accountability on a global level, and digital industries must embrace the change and go for a higher standard of protection. “This will reassure consumers and citizens, benefitting the whole digital economy”, says Marcus. A stable and secure information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure – currently provided by the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) – is key to advance collaboration in science. The AfricaConnect2 project (AfricaConnect (2012–2014) and AfricaConnect2 (2016–2018)) through establishing connectivity between National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), is planning to roll out AfricaConnect3 by the end of 2019. The concern however is that selected African governments (with the exception of a few countries such as South Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia and others) have low awareness of the impact the Internet has today on all societal levels, how much ICT (and the 4th Industrial Revolution) have affected research, and the added value an NREN can bring to higher education and research in addressing the respective needs, which is far more complex than simply providing connectivity. Apart from more commitment and investment in R&D, African governments – to become and remain part of the 4th Industrial Revolution – have no option other than to acknowledge and commit to the role NRENs play in advancing science towards addressing the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals). For successful collaboration and direction, it is fundamental that policies within one country are aligned with one another. Alignment on continental level is crucial for the future Pan-African African Open Science Platform to be successful. Both the HIPSSA ((Harmonization of ICT Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa)3 project and WATRA (the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly)4, have made progress towards the regulation of the telecom sector, and in particular of bottlenecks which curb the development of competition among ISPs. A study under HIPSSA identified potential bottlenecks in access at an affordable price to the international capacity of submarine cables and suggested means and tools used by regulators to remedy them. Work on the recommended measures and making them operational continues in collaboration with WATRA. In addition to sufficient bandwidth and connectivity, high-performance computing facilities and services in support of data sharing are also required. The South African National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System5 (NICIS) has made great progress in planning and setting up a cyberinfrastructure ecosystem in support of collaborative science and data sharing. The regional Southern African Development Community6 (SADC) Cyber-infrastructure Framework provides a valuable roadmap towards high-speed Internet, developing human capacity and skills in ICT technologies, high- performance computing and more. The following countries have been identified as having high-performance computing facilities, some as a result of the Square Kilometre Array7 (SKA) partnership: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zambia. More and more NRENs – especially the Level 6 NRENs 8 (Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, and recently Zambia) – are exploring offering additional services; also in support of data sharing and transfer. The following NRENs already allow for running data-intensive applications and sharing of high-end computing assets, bio-modelling and computation on high-performance/ supercomputers: KENET (Kenya), TENET (South Africa), RENU (Uganda), ZAMREN (Zambia), EUN (Egypt) and ARN (Algeria). Fifteen higher education training institutions from eight African countries (Botswana, Benin, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, and Tanzania) have been identified as offering formal courses on data science. In addition to formal degrees, a number of international short courses have been developed and free international online courses are also available as an option to build capacity and integrate as part of curricula. The small number of higher education or research intensive institutions offering data science is however insufficient, and there is a desperate need for more training in data science. The CODATA-RDA Schools of Research Data Science aim at addressing the continental need for foundational data skills across all disciplines, along with training conducted by The Carpentries 9 programme (specifically Data Carpentry 10 ). Thus far, CODATA-RDA schools in collaboration with AOSP, integrating content from Data Carpentry, were presented in Rwanda (in 2018), and during17-29 June 2019, in Ethiopia. Awareness regarding Open Science (including Open Data) is evident through the 12 Open Science-related Open Access/Open Data/Open Science declarations and agreements endorsed or signed by African governments; 200 Open Access journals from Africa registered on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ); 174 Open Access institutional research repositories registered on openDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories); 33 Open Access/Open Science policies registered on ROARMAP (Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies); 24 data repositories registered with the Registry of Data Repositories (re3data.org) (although the pilot project identified 66 research data repositories); and one data repository assigned the CoreTrustSeal. Although this is a start, far more needs to be done to align African data curation and research practices with global standards. Funding to conduct research remains a challenge. African researchers mostly fund their own research, and there are little incentives for them to make their research and accompanying data sets openly accessible. Funding and peer recognition, along with an enabling research environment conducive for research, are regarded as major incentives. The landscape report concludes with a number of concerns towards sharing research data openly, as well as challenges in terms of Open Data policy, ICT infrastructure supportive of data sharing, capacity building, lack of skills, and the need for incentives. Although great progress has been made in terms of Open Science and Open Data practices, more awareness needs to be created and further advocacy efforts are required for buy-in from African governments. A federated African Open Science Platform (AOSP) will not only encourage more collaboration among researchers in addressing the SDGs, but it will also benefit the many stakeholders identified as part of the pilot phase. The time is now, for governments in Africa, to acknowledge the important role of science in general, but specifically Open Science and Open Data, through developing and aligning the relevant policies, investing in an ICT infrastructure conducive for data sharing through committing funding to making NRENs financially sustainable, incentivising open research practices by scientists, and creating opportunities for more scientists and stakeholders across all disciplines to be trained in data management.