Re-thinking trust in Scotland: from theory to practice
This report presents a literature review of work on trust in government, and uses this to re-think how Scottish Government could conduct future research on trust in government.
7. Bibliography
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Bentzen, Ø. T. and Winsvold. M. (2025). Nordiske tilltisreformer. Nordisk Administrativt Tidsskrift, 102(3). Available at: https://doi.org/10.7577/nat.6419.
Carstens, J. (2023). ‘Unpacking political trust: A review of conceptualisations, determinants, and consequences’, French Politics. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41253-023-00220-5.
Central Statistics Office (n.d) Trust Survey (online). Available at: https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/socialconditions/trustsurvey/ (accessed 12 February 2026).
Citrin, J. and Stoker, L. (2018). ‘Political Trust in a Cynical Age’, Annual Review of Political Science (online), 21 (1), pp. 49–70. Available from: https://natcen.ac.uk/publications/bsa-42-britains-democracy.
Curtice, J., Scholes, A. and Chabdu, A. (2025). BSA 42| Britain’s Democracy: a health check. Available at: https://natcen.ac.uk/publications/bsa-42-britains-democracy.
Department of Culture, Communications and Sports (2023). National Counter Disinformation Strategy Working Group. Available from: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-culture-communications-and-sport/publications/national-counter-disinformation-strategy-working-group/#background (accessed 12 February 2026).
Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (2025). Guidelines for the Responsible Use of AI in the Public Service. Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-culture-communications-and-sport/publications/national-counter-disinformation-strategy-working-group/#background (accessed 12 February 2026).
Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure Service Reform and Digitalisation (2023). Action Plan for Designing Better Public Services. Government of Ireland. Available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-public-expenditure-infrastructure-public-service-reform-and-digitalisation/publications/action-plan-for-designing-better-public-services/ (accessed 12 February 2026).
DFØ (n.d.) ‘Råd for å bygge tillit til den offentlige forvaltningen’. DFØ. Available at: https://www.dfo.no/undersokelser/innbyggerundersokelsen/rad-bygge-tillit-til-den-offentlige-forvaltningen (accessed 12 February 2026).
Devine, D. Valggardsson, V. Jennings, W. Stoker, G. and Bunting, H. (2025). ‘The Causes of Perceived Government Trustworthiness’, European Journal of Political Research, 64(3): pp.1394-1412. doi: 10.1111/1475-6765.12742.
Devine, D., Gaskell, J., Jennings, W. and Stoker, G. (2020). ‘Exploring trust, mistrust and distrust; University of Southampton. Discussion paper for the first Digital Workshop of the ESRC ‘TrustGov’ project 20 April 2020.
Director of Performance, Delivery and Recilience (2024). Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2023 – Attitudes to Government, the Economy, and the Health Service. Scottish Government. Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-social-attitudes-survey-2023-attitudes-government-economy-health-service/. ISBN 9781836014935.(Accessed 19 February 2026.)
Eurobarometer Report (2025). Special Eurobarometer 568. Protecting and promoting democracy. European Commission, doi: 10.2838/7636297.
Foster, Chase, and Jeffry Frieden (2017), ‘Crisis of Trust: Socio-Economic Determinants of Europeans Confidence in Government,” European Union Politics, 18(4), pp. 511-535.
Hakhverdian, A., and Mayne, Q. (2012). ‘Institutional Trust, Education, and Corruption: A Micro-Macro Interactive Approach’, The Journal of Politics, 74(3): pp.739-750. Available from: https://doi.org/10. 1017/S0022381612000412.
Kumagai, S. and Lorio, F. (2020). Building trust in government through citizen engagement. USA: World Bank Group Governance (accessed 19 February 2026).
Li, T. and Fung, H. H. (2013). ‘Age Differences in Trust: An Investigation Across 38 Countries’, The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences (online), 68 (3), pp. 347-355.
Marien, S. (2017) ‘The measurement equivalence of political trust’ in Zmerli, S. and Meer, T. van der (eds.) Handbook on political trust. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 89-103.
Mayer, C. R. and Mayer M.B. (2024). A Research Agenda for Trust. interdisciplinary perspectives. Eldgar Research Publisher.
Norris, P. (2017). ‘The conceptual framework of political support’, In Zmerli, S. and Meer, T. van der (eds.) Handbook on Political Trust. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 19-32.
Norris, P. (2003) ‘Introduction: The Growth of Critical Citizens?’, in Pippa Norris (ed.), Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Government (Oxford, 1999; online edition, Oxford Academic, 1 November 2003), https://doi.org/10.1093/0198295685.003.0001.
OECD (2024a). OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions – 2024 Results: Building Trust in a Complex Policy Environment, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9a20554b-en.
OECD (2024b), OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions 2024 Results – Country Notes: United Kingdom, OECD Publishing, https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-survey-on-drivers-of-trust-in-public-institutions-2024-results-country-notes_a8004759-en/united-kingdom_cec47bf8-en.html.
OECD (2024c), Facts not Fakes: Tackling Disinformation, Strengthening Information Integrity, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/d909ff7a-en.
OECD (2024d), OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions – 2024 Results. OECD Publishing, https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-survey-on-drivers-of-trust-in-public-institutions-2024-results-country-notes_a8004759-en/ireland_852aa644-en.html.
OECD (2017), OECD Guidelines on Measuring Trust, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264278219-en.
Public Service Reform Directorate (2024). Scottish Household Survey 2023: trust in public institutions. Scottish Government. Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-2023-trust-public-institutions/pages/2/.
Schilke, O., Powell, A. and Schweitzer, E.M. (2023). ‘A review of experimental research on organizational trust’, Journal of Trust Research, 13(2), pp. 102-139. doi: 10.1080/21515581.2023.2214202.
Scottish Community Development Centre (2026). Interim Report: Co-creation of the next Open Government Action Plan. Available at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5943c23a440243c1fa28585f/t/699733344c3aa025798327f6/1771516724771/Interim%2BReport%2B-%2BCo-creation%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bnext%2BOpen%2BGovernment%2BAction%2BPlan%2BJanuary%2B2026+copy.pdf.
Seyd, B. (2024) Trust: how citizens view political institutions (online). Oxford: Oxford University Press (online). Available at: https://login.eux.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198896449.001.0001.
The Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality (2026). Expression Preparedness. National Strategy for Open and Enlightened Public Discourse. Norway: The Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality. Available at: https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/6bf0d1fbc91d42139625c0626bfcc2a6/en-gb/pdfs/kud_expression-preparedness.pdf (accessed 12 February 2026).
Uslaner, Eric M. (2017). ‘Political Trust, Corruption, and Inequality’, in Sonja Zmerli and Tom W. G. van der Meer (ed.) Handbook on Political Trust. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 302-315.
Van der Meer, G.W.T. and Zmerli, S. (2017). ‘The deeply rooted concern with political trust’ in Zmerli, S. and Meer, T. van der (eds.) Handbook on Political Trust. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 1-15.
Wang, Y. (2021). ‘Who Do You Trust? A Comparison of Political Communication and Trust in China, the UK and Italy During the COVID-19 Crisis’, Political Observer (online), 14 (14), pp. 61-79.
Warren, M. (1999) Democracy and Trust. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.1-21.
Warren, E. M. (2017) ‘What kinds of trust does a democracy need? Trust from a perspective of democratic theory’ in Zmerli, S. and Meer, T. van der (eds.) Handbook on Political Trust. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 33-52.
You, Jong-sung (2017) ‘Trust and Corruption’ in Eric M. Uslaner (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Social and Political Trust. Oxford Handbooks (2018; online edition, Oxford Academic, 10 January 2017), https://doi-org.eux.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190274801.013.22,
Zmerli, Sonja and Tom W.G. Van Der Meer (2017). Handbook of Political Trust. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Contact
Email: amy.watson@gov.scot