Managerial Quality, Administrative Performance and Trust in Governance: Can We Point to Causality?
The relationship between managerial quality, administrative performance and citizens’ trust in government and in public administration systems is a field of study that so far has not received adequate scholarly attention. This article explores some interrelationships between these variables and empirically tests between causality, if it exists, between performance and trust. Applying a technique of structural equation modelling (SEM) with LISREL 8.3 the study examined a sample of 345 Israeli citizens and compared three alternative models. The second model that showed a quality AE performance AE trust relationship fitted the data best. However, the third model also had some advantages worthy of elaboration. Thus, we concluded that administrative performance may be treated as a precondition to trust in governance rather than trust serving as the precondition to performance. The article ends with further discussion of the findings and their meaning in light of the democratic, bureaucratic and new public management theory. Reforms and improvements in public administration systems are based on a number of core fundamentals. Among these, managerial quality, administrative performance, responsiveness, citizens’ satisfaction and democratic values such as trust, faith and confidence in government are the most important principles. To date, many studies have focused on one or more of these themes and have shown how each may strengthen our understanding of administrative and political environments. Nonetheless, few efforts have been made to explore the accurate relationship between these principles that are so essential for both effective bureaucracies and stable democracies.