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Political corruption, political responsiveness and public trust: Testing the implicit exchange hypothesis.

  • Published In: Governance, 2025, v. 38, n. 2. P. 1 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Potipiroon, Wisanupong 3 of 3

Abstract

The question of why electoral punishment of corrupt politicians fails to materialize continues to captivate scholars and practitioners. In this research, I draw upon implicit exchange theory to demonstrate that corrupt politicians may retain public trust if they are seen as responsive to the constituency. Analyses of survey data from 590 local business owners in two municipalities in Thailand reveal that political corruption negatively affected public trust, while political responsiveness had a positive effect. Furthermore, as expected, political responsiveness neutralized the trust‐eroding effect of political corruption. Specifically, citizens showed higher levels of trust for politicians perceived as "corrupt but responsive" than for those considered "less corrupt but less responsive." The results were observed after considering the influence of politician competence and local government performance. These findings paint a rather somber view, suggesting that political corruption in the presence of political responsiveness may create a "façade" of politicians' trustworthiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Governance. 2025/04, Vol. 38, Issue 2, p1
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Law
  • Publication Date:2025
  • ISSN:0952-1895
  • DOI:10.1111/gove.12888
  • Accession Number:184495684
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Governance is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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